As spring has sprung and all of the students at Malden High begin to select their new classes, it also means that a new season of sports is upon us.
Spring has some of the most sports out of any season, one sport in particular, lacrosse, has grown in popularity among recent years.
Boys' Lacrosse Coach Jonathan Copithorne is ready to tackle the challenge as his team prepares for the newly arrived season.
He recognizes that he will miss the “senior leadership from our two captains last year, Gary Luo and Ethan Heon.” However, Copithorne is confident in his current crew of captains. “We have a good group of three captains in Chad Robertson, Takai Landrum, and Nelson Jiang, who can hopefully pick up some of the slack.” He continued, “The captains this year are really going to have to find their voice.”
Copithorne also noted that “It is a little too early to tell what this team is best at,” however he is pleased to see the turnout for the team this season. “We have a lot of new players that are going to have to learn on the fly.” Copithorne is hopeful that this team can compete and “make some noise in the [Greater Boston League Championship].”
From a coaching standpoint, Copithorne looks to “utilize each player to the best of their abilities and put them in the best position for the team to win.”
Overall, Copithorne summed the team up as being “a really good group of kids that hopefully can go a long way.”
Junior John “Jacky” Summers is happy with the captains so far and noted that “they really just motivate us and always show up to practice ready to work." Many of the players agreed upon the state of the team’s chemistry as being good. Summers stated, “We never get down on each other; if someone makes a mistake, we are always there to pick them right back up.”
However, this team, like all teams, will need some improvements. Summers hopes that the team can harp on defense in practice because the “offense comes naturally from all of our playmakers.”
New to the sport this year, junior Saul Kruckenburg believes the team's greatest strength is its chemistry and how close the team has gotten: “No one judges if you ask any questions, especially being new to the sport.”
Kruckenburg stated that the team really just has to “work on the basic stuff, like always looking to pass, and being able to rotate, and help your teammates on defense.”
“Chad really started the year off great for us, having an amazing game with ten goals, and Takai [Landrum] and Nelson [Jiang] also having strong performances really motivated us.” Overall, Kruckenburg really hopes to “learn as much as I can and help the team any way I can.”
Junior Captain Chad Robertson, who is also the team's leading goal scorer with a staggering ten goals in one game against Lynn, does not believe that game can go without improvement for the team; he agrees with Kruckenburg in saying, “The first game was not the prettiest, we have to work on cleaning up the fundamental stuff.”
Robertson also thinks he is doing a good job as a captain, and noted, “I try to give everyone energy and push them to give it their all on the field.” Personally, Robertson has set his sights upon the all-time goal record at Malden High, and he only needs around 20 more.
Colby Parker, a junior defenseman, believes that “Our hard work from practice really was shown off in our recent game.” Parker also stated that the coaches and captains had done a “phenomenal job” creating a team community, and none tried to “ostracize anyone.” Parker himself hopes to be able to lead the team defensively, as he is the most senior defender, and be a model for the underclassmen to look up to.
So far, the lacrosse team has started their season excellently, defeating Lynn 14-7 under the captains’ and coaches’ strong leadership and guidance.
In the upcoming week, the team will play three GBL opponents, a home game against Somerville on the 6th, and away games to Revere and Medford on the 11th and 13th, respectively.
