The Sachem North boy’s lacrosse team opened its 2011 campaign with a convincing 22-10 victory over Weddington High School in Matthews, N.C. Friday evening.
After leading 14-3 at half against the Warriors, the Arrows slowed the pace of the game in the second and coasted for the win.
The 22 goals are the most Sachem has scored in the modern split era since head coach Jay Mauro took over. The previous high was 21 scored against Copiague last season.
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This is the third consecutive season the Arrows have played out of state to open the year. They’ve taken trips to Virginia and Maryland in the past.
“They’re one of the better teams in North Carolina,” said Mauro. “Each year we want to increase the competition.”
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Weddington head coach Mark Burnham, a former National Champion at Syracuse in the early 1980s, squeezed Sachem into his schedule as the Warriors played again today against a native North Carolina team.
“He knows competition from Long Island,” Mauro said. “It was really cool to go down there. Our team gets to bond a little bit.”
Senior Jake Cabble injured his knee – not the one he hurt during the football season – and will have an MRI on Monday morning in New York. The Robert Morris-bound threat is looked upon as a major weapon and is integral in Sachem’s plans this year.
Overall, Mauro said his team still needs to work on defensive communication and getting better as a team on offense.
Prior to the game, the team scrimmaged Riverside High School from South Carolina on Thursday. Their assistant coach Anthony Quilles used to live in Sachem about four years ago.
"They had a nice Bar-B-Q for us afterward," Mauro said. "Lacrosse is a small community and this was great for our kids. There whole community was psyched we came down and scrimmaged them. It was really cool."
On Saturday, the team traveled to Johns Hopkins where they watched the Blue Jays beat Virginia, 12-11, in a classic battle.
Sachem starts it’s league schedule with a game against Middle Country on Wednesday and will host Syosset on Friday in a game to raise money for cancer research and awareness. Memorial Sloan Kettering will have a table at the game and players on both teams will be wearing pink socks, armbands and shoelaces donated by Olympic Den.
The Arrows were ranked No. 16 on LaxPower's pre-season poll and No. 25 by Inside Lacrosse.
Check Sachem Patch this week for a season preview of the North and East boys and girls programs.
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