Watertown boys’ lacrosse ready for state tournament

The 2015 Watertown High School boys’ lacrosse team made some noise this regular season and is now ready for the MIAA tournament.

The Raiders fell a goal short against Melrose in the last game of the regular season and missed out on a share of the Middlesex League Freedom title. The Raiders’ only other losses came to Wakefield (the Freedom champs) and Reading.

The Raiders (12-3) earned a first-round bye in the Central/East Division 3 tournament as the No. 4. The Raiders will play host to No. 5 seeded Groton-Dunstable (11-8) on Thursday, June 4, at 5 p.m. at Victory Field in Watertown.

Coming into the season, there were a lot of questions though.

Last year’s team had a very strong core of seniors and were tightly knit. Also the departure of Mike Smith left the head coaching job vacant. Luckily for the boys, they were able to find a great successor in coach Mike Ferreira and had a lot of players with varsity experience. That combo mixed very well for the Raiders.

The Raiders started strong, winning their first five games and seven of their first eight. This could be credited to the Raiders’ rock-solid defense, and the senior leadership of Matt Murphy, Angel Carrion, Jeff Comeau, and Sam Ford. The seniors, with the help of underclassmen Derek DiPietrantonio, Conor Britton, and Isaac Huff made other teams struggle.

Games could not be won unless goals were scored, and the Raiders certainly did plenty of that.

Leading the charge was attackman Anthony Busconi, a Saint Anselm commit. Busconi was supported by the dynamic duo of fellow attacks Chris Fidler and Jason Hughes.

The midfielders, the iron men of lacrosse, deserve credit, too. With Matthew Busconi and Tyler Poulin taking faceoffs and throwing the ball back to Nick Giordano, the Raiders’ offense made them a real threat for Middlesex League title all season.

–June 3, 2015–