Boys Lax Hits Speed Bump Against Medfield

Westwood's varsity boys lacrosse team (9-5) couldn't stop Tri-Valley League rival Medfield (11-3) Tuesday evening, as the conference-leading Warriors were able to retain a perfect 9-0, winning 18-4.

Cal Given and Davis Parsons led the Medfield attack with four goals apiece and Derek Etzkorn added a hat trick. The highly efficient Warrior offense put in 18 of 27 shots on goal and seemed to be moving the ball quickly and at will.

“We do a lot of work on that,” said Medfield head coach Bob Aronson. “We had been a little sloppy at the beginning of the year, whether it was younger or inexperienced players, but they are coming into their own now and we spend a lot of time on it in practice so they are starting to click now.”

Westwood fell behind early, trailing 4-1 after the first, and the Wolverines went on to give up nine more first-half goals, finding themselves down 13-2 at the break.

Sean Condrick and Shane Troy put in the only first-half goals for the Wolverines. Head coach Todd Zahurak explained the offensive struggle from his team.

“It was transition,” Zahurak said. “I’m pretty confident that our attack can play with just about anybody but the transition is tough. We need to do a better job integrating our midfield into the offense so the attack can do what they do.”

Medfield goalkeeper Sam Aronson was tremendous in the net, stopping the few shots that snuck past the tight Warrior defense. He saved five of seven that came his way, the majority of which were from point-blank range. Aronson was replaced by Dougie Nelson in the second half, who also allowed just two goals, one to Casey McQuillan and the other to Jake Drew.

Medfield featured eight goal scorers on the evening; Parsons, Given and Etzkorn had a combined 11, Conor Roddy and Andrew Melvin each scored twice, and Tommy Graham, Chris Diana and Thomas Elcock had one goal apiece.

Medfield had countless opportunities in front of the net all night, something Bob Aronson said wasn’t necessarily there for his team a few weeks ago.

“We connected on some opportunities we probably wouldn’t have in some games early in the season; we might not have even made the right cut then,” Aronson said. “Now, we seem to be making good cuts off ball and the looks are there, so it’s a nice time to peak toward the end of the season and hopefully we’re playing our best lacrosse and into the tournament.”

As for Westwood, which won four straight coming into Tuesday's game, Zahurak said he feels it’s a small bump in the road and is confident his team will get back on track.

“We just have to score goals,” Zahurak said. “At the end of the day it’s just one game and we’ll line it up tomorrow and have at it. Our next win puts us in the states so we’re looking forward to the next one and if things round out into shape, I can see us making a nice run.”