On Wednesday, April 5, the Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse team, riding a three-game win streak, went up to Northfield Mount Hermon for a showdown with the Hoggers. The team dominated from the start, and came home with a massive 16-5 win.
Nick McCall ’17 said, “It’s always fun to win and see everyone contribute, but I think at the same time we need to shoot more confidently and move the ball more fluidly.” The team played well, and the win lifted overall team morale. Choate dominated throughout the whole game. Hunter Burns ’19 said, “I thought the biggest play in the game was when Shane Sweitzer ’18 went coast to coast and scored for us.” Big plays like this drained NMH’s will to compete, allowing the Boars to keep rolling on both sides of the ball.
The following Saturday, the boys had a home game against the Kent School. Straightaway, it was clear that Kent was outmatched by Choate, as the Boars took an early 4-1 lead that continued to expand from there. Bobby Goggin ’17 scored, making it 9-1 while Choate was a man up. Shortly after that goal, McCall came back with an impressive goal of his own to give Choate a commanding 10-1 lead.
The narrative for Choate in the second half was different. The team had no shortage of goals, but the team was tested defensively. After Choate took an 11-1 lead, Kent had a couple of offensive opportunities that were thwarted by Sweitzer and Selden Leonard ’17, but Kent eventually broke through and scored, making it 11-2. Every time Kent would score, Choate would respond with two or three goals of its own, with the game ending in a 16-4 Choate victory.
Everybody on the team individually played well, especially Jack-Henry Vara ’17, who did not lose a face-off all game, and goalie George Uppgren ’17, who saved almost everything that Kent threw on net. Spencer Witter ’19 and Konrad Knaus ’19 both scored excellent goals.
After the game, Will Brown ’19 said, “We dominated the game from the first whistle. It was overall a great team showing and no one took their foot off the gas pedal. I think we ran our systems efficiently, and we just need to keep getting better everyday in practice and looking forward to the next game.”
The Boars are one of the hottest teams on campus right now, and they take on their rivals from the Emerald City this coming Saturday, which is sure to be a heated battle.
