ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Co-captain Anthony DelVecchio, left, battling Swampscott’s Chris Figueiredo during a weekend scrimmage, will be a leader at midfield for the Spartans this spring.
By KATIE MORRISON
LYNN — The St. Mary’s boys lacrosse team took steps forward as a program in 2016 under first-year coach Josh Field. This season, the Spartans are looking to continue that trend and to make some noise in the Catholic Central League.
After graduating a small group, St. Mary’s will return a good nucleus of players. The Spartans finished last season 6-12, missing the tournament, but now the young players have a year of experience under their belts and Field will be looking to them to step up.
He’ll have two veterans returning to anchor the squad on the back end and in the midfield. Senior captain Brendon Donahue solidifies the Spartans in the net, and fellow captain Anthony DelVecchio will help lead the midfield.
“(DelVecchio) really initiates our offense,” Field said.
The Spartans also have the luxury of bringing back their two leading scorers from 2016. And fortunately for Field, he has three more years to work with both of them, as sophomores Nick Napolitano and Alec Matho will look to give St. Mary’s a spark on offense.
Also returning is junior Chris Kirby, who will anchor the defense.
The Spartans boast a lot of young talent; last season, Field started six freshmen.
“You can build a team around those guys,” he said. “So we’re not just excited about this year, but the future too.”
The numbers were up substantially for the first week of practices last week, and it’s not just underclassmen coming out for the team for the first time. Field also picked up a few players who don’t have lacrosse experience, but bring a whole lot of athletic talent to the team in Marcus Atkins, who quarterbacked the Spartans to the Division 3A Super Bowl, and Dante Maribito, who helped lead the Spartans hockey team to the Division 1 title just a week ago.
Field hopes the two stellar athletes will be “big contributors” once they get a little lacrosse experience under their belts, and says the two have “good attitudes” coming into the season.
That kind of positive attitude might be the Spartans’ biggest strength, according to the coach.
“That’s what you want as a coach, players who are going to work hard,” Field said, adding that the leadership of his senior captains “goes a long way” as well.
As for the goals the Spartans are setting for themselves? First and foremost is just competing in the CCL. Field said his team has its sights set on a league title, and if it plays well within the league, clinching a tournament berth will take care of itself.
The Spartans only have one more week of practice before hitting Manning Field for the season opener against CCL foe Arlington Catholic on April 3.
St. Mary’s got outside for some game action Saturday as it scrimmaged Swampscott in preparation for the opener next week.