The Chieftains squashed the Magicians, 18-8, obtaining their first Northeast Conference title since joining the NEC in the fall of 2020.
Marblehead didn’t have an answer defensively for the Chieftains’ powerhouse offense. The starting attack group of senior Anthony Giacchino, junior Colten Russo, and sophomore Colin Driscoll can put up points with the best of them. In this game, Russo buried six goals and had two assists to go with Giacchinos’s three goals and one assist.
“It feels great to be NEC champs and Marblehead is always a good team, whether it’s hockey or lacrosse, so it’s always great to win against them,” said Russo.
Russo has seen 42 goals go in this season and 71 total points, landing him a top-ten spot in the North Shore.
“For Tony [Giacchino], Drisc [Driscoll], and I, moving the ball well was the key in this game and has been all year. Will Carey [senior captain] was helping the offense push upfield by winning a bunch of face-offs and the attacks on this team can score just as good as anybody.”
This season, Masco had its first and second wins over Marblehead since joining the conference.
“Marblehead has been the top dog in the conference ever since we joined seven years ago. They went several years straight without ever losing a conference game. Over that time, we gave them some great battles, including taking them to overtime a couple of years ago. Beating them the first time this season in overtime lifted a huge weight off of our shoulders, and gave our guys the confidence that we can compete with the top teams in this conference,” said head coach Chris Roach. “The second time playing Marblehead this season was for the conference title. Our boys had confidence from the first win, combined with the motivation the second time around, knowing that it was an opportunity to bring home our first conference title in the NEC. The boys came out on fire and never cooled off.”
All of the work that the seniors put in over their lacrosse careers paid off, and they all deserve to be remembered as the group that brought home Masco’s first NEC conference championship.
The Chieftain Player of the Game award was given to junior goalie and second-year starter Jack Wheadon. Wheadon was the anchor in the net with his 12 saves.
“The defense was all around lockdown and we followed the scout report of the other team to a tee, ” said Wheadon. “We had to make some adjustments throughout the game, but the guys we have on are able to make the necessary adjustments even going 1000 miles an hour in the game.”
Wheadon had unfortunately been battling injury earlier in the season and sophomore goalie Michael Kenny did a fantastic stepping in. With Wheadon back in the net, the Chieftains have a dual-headed goalie attack.
With the win over Marblehead last week and Swampscott this week, the Chieftains officially went undefeated in NEC matchups.
“Winning our first NEC title is a huge milestone for our program. We have a strong tradition as a program, winning the Cape Ann League Conference title several times over the last couple of decades. It has taken us some time to find our footing in our new conference, but this year was huge for us to break the ice with our first league title. Our performance in the championship game was by far the best that we played all season. Everything was going right for us that day, which elevates our confidence and our expectations,” said Roach. “We took some time to be grateful for what we accomplished, but our work is not done yet. We are still looking ahead to finish the season strong and play at the highest level possible come state tournament time.”
Masco now hits the road for round one, where they will find out their opponent this coming tomorrow.