Last Monday the Malden High Boys Lacrosse team faced against Revere. The game was thrilling, ending in a 7-6 victory for Malden. This victory was massive for the team because last year they faced Revere twice and lost both times uncompetitively.
In the game, the scorers were Zach Rufo with two goals, and Son Nguyen, Drew Hallahan, Joey Costa, Jarrett Goodwin, and Tenzin Dorjee with one each. Along with the scorers, standout players for the game were Joey Costa, along with the defense which were led by Junior Mark Giordano and Senior Captain Hasnat Moughal.
This game was tight and impressive because at certain points of the game they faced major difficulties such as being a “man-down” for five minutes and also having the score at one point 5-1 to Revere. As described by Coach Copithorne, this result “showed a lot of resilience” and he was “proud of how the team never quit”. Copithorne was specifically impressed with Joey Costa and Hasnat Moughal in the game because they both made sure that Revere had very few opportunities to get back in the game. Costa had a “willingness to do everything on the field” which led to him “[opening] up opportunities for the rest of the team”. Hasnat also had an impressive game and without his saves, Revere could have gotten back in the game.
While this result was key for the Lacrosse team to continue playing successful, Coach Smith does not want this game to go to their heads. Smith said that in order to continue playing games like this they need to “improve our transition defense and clearing the ball out of our zone.” and in practice “to continue to focus on our stick skills and winning the ground balls”.
Another area that the coaches feel needs to be improve is their sense of urgency at the beginning of the games. Copithorne believes that “In upcoming games, we need to play with the same intensity that we played with in the second half of the game. If we do that, then we will put ourselves in good position for where we want to be at the end of the year.” Copithorne also wants the players to take “advantage of practice” and to have a correct mindset for the upcoming games. “Right now, we've put ourselves in a good position for the rest of the season, but if we start to get comfortable and think that we have guaranteed wins on our schedule, we can quickly fall out of contention. We have to have the mindset that we can beat every team on our schedule, and that every team on our schedule can beat us.”
This victory not only leaves an impact on the season as a whole, but also to the players individually. Hasnat Moughal feels that this victory can prove that this Boy’s Lacrosse team can perform and become a greater team. “Revere has beaten us for the past 3 years straight and being them for the first time proves that we can make it to states and make this season something nobody will ever forget. We played our hearts out and this shows that we can make this season the best one in history.”
