Lacrosse advances with victory
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
For a young program, last Thursday's overtime win by the boys' lacrosse team can be viewed as downright historic.

"That was the first time we've ever won a playoff game on the road, ever," an understandably happy coach Rick Blair said of the come from behind victory over Norwell. Mark Dwyer scored both the tying goal and the game winner in overtime.

Nantucket trailed 5-0 as late as the second quarter, although Blair noted that the score was not indicative of the Whalers'play. "We started out possessing the ball the same amount of time that they were," he said. "Once we settled down and got longer possessions, things started to work for us."

The Whalers rallied to the end.

"On the tying goal, it was with a little over a minute to go in regulation," Blair said. "(Goalie) Keith Clemens beat their guy to the line on a shot, so we got possession and called a time out. Everybody ran to the far side of the field and let Mark run it up the field."

That knotted the game at seven. From there, Dwyer picked up his own stripped shot, ran downfield and bounced in a ball so hard it put a hole in the net.

The victory earned the tenth-seeded Whalers the chance to take on number two seed Scituate Monday. That Norwell had beaten Scituate during the regular season wasn't lost on the Whalers, a young team with something to prove.

Nantucket entered the playoffs with a stripped-down squad of 17 players. Although the bench isn't deep, Blair says the attitude of the team has helped. "Now that the regular season is over, our young guys are seeing what competitive lacrosse is all about and they're starting to play like it. It gives us hope we can compete with the best teams in our division."

As for Dwyer's performance against Norwell: "Once he gets around the edge on you, he's real hard to stop."

Will Martin had three goals and two assists against Norwell, while Henry Farrell had two goals and Hakeem Lecky added a goal and four assists. "Hakeem had a great game," Blair said. "He was matched against one of the best defensemen

in the state." I