On April 18th, 2017, Malden High’s boys lacrosse team played against Winthrop’s boys lacrosse team, at Macdonald Stadium. Although the boys played to the best of their ability, Winthrop won with a score of 13-4. Senior captain Andy Tham scored the most points during the game. Their next game is May 4th, against Salem, at Salem.
When it came to the advantages and disadvantages of the game, captain Tham felt like “there were more disadvantages than advantages.” He states “for one [they] didn’t have a full team. A lot of the team members went on vacation and that left us short handed.” Senior captain Joshua Andrews also said that “[they] got beat on ground balls and need to connect more passes.” To senior captain Steven Sexton, another disadvantage was that Winthrop played a tight zone defense, and “that was hard to get through.” Even though Malden did have a few disadvantages, they did have a few advantages as well, like having a home field advantage and that they never gave up throughout the game.
On what each individual could have done to improve, Tham said he could have been a “little smarter with [his] passes and shots.” He says, “that’s something [they’re] always working on during practice and [he] just [needs] to practice a little bit more.” For Andrews, he says “[he] could’ve improved [his] performance that game by fighting harder on ground balls and 50/50 opportunities.” Sexton says he “could’ve gotten more ground balls to help the team get more positions on offense.” On a positive note, Andrews says he improved from the previous game by being able to move off ball to open up shooting opportunities, and for Sexton, he improved on setting up plays more efficiently.
For how the team as a whole could improve their performance for a future meet, Tham says that “the team could really improve their performance by focusing on the basics.” “Passing, catching, communication, and moving around on the field. Again that’s something [they] focus on during practice,” he adds. Andrews said a similar opinion, as he said “the team could improve by knowing [they’re] each are on the field and by keeping their eyes up to look for open chances and by fighting for ground balls.” For Sexton, he says “[them], as a team, need to settle the ball on offense and possess the ball longer to give our defense a break.” However, on this game, Sexton says they improved from the game before by “not forcing bad passes and running our plays efficiently.”
