Globe South Sports

South teams

triumphant

Local lacrosse teams

sweep state tourney

Westwood High girls celebrate after capturing the Division 1 state lacrosse crown in Worcester last week. (Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / June 18, 2009

WORCESTER - Running late last Friday afternoon, the Westwood High girls’ lacrosse team arrived at Foley Stadium while the Longmeadow players were warming up on the midfield circle, hooting and hollering with every jumping jack.

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“L-A-N-C-E-R-S’’ reverberated off empty metal bleachers as the Westwood players walked past, almost stoically, approximately 50 minutes before their matchup in the Division 1 state final.

Six minutes in, the Wolverines were staring at a 6-1 deficit.

Frazzled? No. Fazed? No.

Their confidence never wavered, and Westwood stormed back for an 11-10 win for the program’s second straight state championship, and fourth overall.

“In a lot of games, we dig a hole for ourselves and we just come back - I don’t know why,’’ said Westwood junior midfielder Misha Beatty.

Longmeadow coach Steve Dudeck conceded that dealing with Westwood’s relentless pressure is difficult, and playing a team as talented as the Wolverines can be intimidating.

The Wolverines’ run to a repeat was just one piece of what was a South sweep in the state lacrosse tournament.

The Walpole High boys followed up Westwood’s win with a 17-8 victory over St. John’s of Shrewsbury for the Division 2 crown. Two days earlier, Duxbury and Scituate pocketed victories in the Division 1 and 3 East finals, respectively, at Harvard Stadium. And Norwell stopped North Andover for the Division 2 girls’ title at Babson.

In his 23 years as a coach with the Hingham’ boys program, John Todd doesn’t recall such lacrosse dominance south of Boston, at least not since the sport expanded to two divisions a decade ago and to three about five years later.

“It’s a great testament to the growth of the game not only on the South Shore but across the state,’’ said Todd, a two-time state champion whose team fell in the quarterfinals of the Division 2 East tournament this year. “Both boys’ and girls’ [lacrosse] has risen to what 15 years ago were unimaginable heights.’’

Scituate coach Mark Puzzangara, who teaches elementary physical education, can see the popularity of the sport among his students.

“Lacrosse has a nice gear line - baggy shorts, tank tops - kids get into that stuff,’’ said the former Milton coach, who guided Scituate to its second straight title in his first year this season.

“They wear lacrosse shorts year-round - Syracuse, Princeton - every day at least one kid has on some sort of lacrosse paraphernalia.’’

The youth lacrosse boom hit the South Shore in the early ’90s, according to Todd, shortly before anywhere else. He credits Hingham resident Rich Santoro, a former player at Villanova, with starting one of the area’s first youth programs in 1988.

“At that point it was a totally foreign game,’’ Todd said, calling Santoro the godfather of youth lacrosse on the South Shore. “At that level, so many people hadn’t had experience. Ricky said to other organizations, ‘We’ll give you the games, you just get the kids.’ ’’

Hingham Youth Lacrosse now numbers nearly 800 players strong, according to Todd.

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The sport appeals to parents and kids - not only because a number of players can take the field at once, and contribute in high-scoring games - but because athletic kids can excel even if they aren’t well-rounded players.

“Minor skills make dominant players,’’ Todd said. “A kid who can’t skate can’t play hockey. A kid who can’t dribble can’t play basketball. You don’t have to be the best shooter on a lacrosse field to be great. If you can scoop up a ground ball and hand it off to someone who is fast, you can be a hero.’’

And in the beginning, parents reached out to knowledgeable voices, such as Santoro, instead of trying to do it on their own. So young players on the South Shore not only learned the game in droves, they learned it from highly skilled coaches.

“The head high school coaches have such influence on the [youth] programs,’’ Puzzangara said.

“You can see there’s a progression in what they are being taught in Grade 1 to Grade 8. By eighth grade, they are running some nuance of the high school offense. So kids are not coming up lost, they don’t have to waste time reteaching basic skills.’’

No one has been more successful at creating synergy between its youth league and high school program than Duxbury, which has six straight Division 1 boys’ titles.

“You certainly hope to one day be at that level,’’ Walpole coach Jason Andalo said before guiding his Rebels to the school’s first lacrosse state title.

“Those types of teams are good year in and year out, that’s what you hope to do.’’

Girls’ programs south of Boston have served as a pipeline to a number of college programs, including perennial power Northwestern.

Under the direction of Hingham native Kelly Amonte Hiller, the Wildcats recently captured their fifth straight NCAA Division 1 women’s title with a roster featuring seven players from the South Shore.

Westwood has sent five players to Northwestern and 11 to Division 1 programs in coach Leslie Frank’s tenure. Contributing to the state title sweep made this year all the sweeter.

“That’s sick, the South Shore is mean,’’ said Frank as the Walpole High boys warmed up behind her. “You get strong by playing strong opponents.’’

A few hours earlier, Westwood arrived late for its own warmups. And as they mounted their comeback, the Wolverines drew on experience to remain composed despite Longmeadow’s ear-ringing rally cry.

“Lots of teams like to do that to get pumped up. My team, we’re used to it,’’ junior captain Kelly Rich said after finishing with four goals and two assists.

“They try to take us out of our game, but we use it to our advantage.’’

Rich, who has verbally committed to Northwestern along with Beatty, said Westwood sets its own tone with a more somber preparation.

“Our warmups are more quiet, more individual,’’ she said.

“I would be intimidated by our warmups.’’

Justin Rice can be reached at rice.ju@gmail.com. Globe correspondent Maggie Cassidy also contributed to this story.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.