The players

What a day, what a day!

Finally after some long months of winter, New England caught a break with the weather. The South Shore Vikings took advantage of the rare day on Tuesday and hosted our second lacrosse game of the season playing North East Metro Tech. After a late start under blue skies the Vikings were looking to take the action right to the visiting Knights. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out the way it is planned! The young Green turned in a sloppy performance but we were able to steal a 7 – 3 victory on the shoulders of our young goalie Sean Rockwood. Rockwood was solid in net and turned away several golden opportunities by our opponents only letting in screened shots, but anything that he had a clean look at ended up as being the first pass of our clear! Offensively we were once again carried by the attack tandem of Luke Barr and David Newell, who each tallied a hat trick and Joe Nason’s first goal and assist of the season rounded out the scoring. Gutty performances were turned in by our tired midfield corps specifically by Matt Taylor, Kevin MacDonald and Rob Howlett. Another strong point for the Vikings that will not show up in the scoring column is the work that the midfielders did at the face off X. By controlling the restarts the Vikings were able to keep momentum in our favor and to avoid any strong runs by the Knights.

Today’s contest is the third and final game of our early season home stand. Lynn Tech will be visiting this afternoon and once again the MTLL (Massachusetts Technical School Lacrosse League) championship will be up for grabs. Winning these early games will set the tone for the rest of the season and pave the way to the championship.

Coach Lefsky has been pleased with the season thus far stating "no matter how you get them, two wins is two wins!"

Thank you for all of your support and stay tuned for the rest of the hard hitting, fast paced action for the rest of the season. After today our next home contest will be on May 8 vs. a very strong Shawsheen Tech team.

GO VIKINGS!

Article #4                            Vikings Lacrosse

What happens when you make a bunch of Vikings stand around in the cold waiting for you to start a game? Answer, you get a beating! On the last day before spring break Lynn Tech traveled to Hanover for a MTLL match up with the South Shore Vikings. Caught in a traffic jam on the way down the visitors just made the cut off time before darkness would have forced the game to be forfeited. From the Lynn perspective that might have been the more attractive offer. Displaying tenacity and a balance that has not been shown before by our team the hosts were most ungracious by pinning a 12-1 score on the road weary visitors.

Leading the way was a tremendous midfield effort for the Vikings with contributions coming in from all over the field. With such a strong presence at midfield Lynn was unable to get anything going offensively and they were on their heels all afternoon. Scoring goals for the Vikings were Matt Taylor, Rob Howlett, Russ Tottman, Kevin MacDonald, and Nick Farrish. Contributing with a dominating presence at the face off X was Jeff Carlson, and rounding out the efforts of the midfielders were defensive stalwarts James Hain and Lenny Cipulo.

On the rare occasion that Lynn broke through the middies, our defensemen were up to the challenge and repeatedly turned away any threat from the front of our goal. Only a Power play goal on a screened shot late in the third period that slipped by Goalie Sean Rockwood blemished the otherwise pristine score sheet of the day. Pounding the visitors in to submission was penalty prone leader Sean Lloyd, and wings Chris Austin and Zach Shea.

On a rare "off" day by our attackmen they still posted a huge day in the books and controlled the ball and kept it out of Lynn’s sticks. Showing the way was Luke Barr and Dave Newell, supported by crease man Joe Nason.

On the Wednesday of vacation the Vikings took to the road for the first time to play Shawsheen Tech. It was a showdown for one of the top spots in the MTLL and an epic battle was expected. Unfortunately for us we did not play our best lacrosse and were on the wrong end of a 6-2 score. Tallying markers for the Vikings were Luke Barr and Dave Newell. Of special note on this game was the performance of Jeff Carlson who answered the call to replace the injured Rockwood between the pipes. Carlson stepped in and let in only 2 goals in more than a half of work. Other notable performances were turned in by our outnumbered midfielders, who gave Shawsheen all they could handle, and simply ran out of steam as the game wore on, and our strong defense who after they settled down managed to put the clamps on a powerful offensive team.

In our last get together, we faced a Winchendon squad that put on a clinic at our expense! Finding ourselves on the business end of a 11-0 score we took our lumps, played hard and will learn our lesson to come out of the contest a stronger team. One bright spot was the play of freshman netminder Sean Rockwood who registered a mind boggling 50 saves on the afternoon.

Coming up this week for the Vikings is the second match in our Home and Home with Lynn Tech on Wednesday, and then we are off until a busy May. Stay tuned for all the exciting updates.

Viking Lacrosse

Article #5; May 7, 2003

Standing at the beginning of a brutal stretch of 9 games in 15 school days the Vikings prepared this Monday with their destiny in their own hands. A viscous schedule awaits the Green and Gold in the next 3 weeks and hopefully all of the hard work and torturous practices will pay off.

The long road began on May 5^th with a road trip to league leading Minuteman Tech. This would be the Vikings first match up with a powerhouse team in the league. Going to the game we knew that we had our work cut out for us. Minuteman took an early lead in the game and never really looked back. Trailing 6-1 at the half South Shore had a strong showing during the third period and rallied for 3 over the next period and a half to make it a 6-4 game. Relying on their 9 seniors and the vast experience that they have chalked up in the past few seasons Minuteman never panicked and responded with 3 of their own to close out the game 9-4. Overall it was a tremendous effort by the young Vikings and it served notice to the rest of the league that we were not merely a first year team that will go quietly into the night!

On the very next day, Tuesday May 6, we once again boarded our busses and took a long trip to Blackstone Valley Tech. Once again a battle awaited us. Picked as one of the top teams in the league again this year BVT was determined to show the upstart Vikings how lacrosse was played in the competitive MTLL. However the Vikings had other plans. The teams traded goals in the opening stanza and went into the first intermission locked at 1-1. The same scenario played itself out in the second as we entered into the halftime break deadlocked at 2. This was shaping up to be a classic battle for league bragging rights. With only 13 players available to us and playing on the second day of a back-to-back week, the prospects did not look good for the tiring Vikings. Unfortunately for Blackstone Valley, they did not count on the tremendous heart that forms the core of this team. Digging down deep into their reserves the Vikings rallied for one more goal in the second half. It was one more than BVT could muster. With a otherworldly defensive effort and a strong ball-possession half the Green went into Blackstone Valley and took the game from them on their own field! Scoring goals for the Vikings were freshman phenom David Newell, sophomore Rob Howlett, and playing his best lacrosse of the season senior Jeff Carlson. Also having noteworthy games were sophomore captain, Sean Lloyd and standing on his head between the pipes was freshman goaltender Sean Rockwood.

Closing in on a birth in the state tournament this team has served notice that we are not just another team, but one that will have to be reckoned with as the 2003 season heads towards its conclusion.

Our next game will be this Thursday at home and then Monday and Tuesday of next week, also at home.

Thank you for all of you continued support and see you at the next action packed, stick swinging, body checking, goal scoring celebration!

It began as a perfect day. You know the kind; clear blue skies warm sun shining down, and hardly a breeze to rustle the leaves. In short a perfect day to watch and play lacrosse. In a late season match up the South Shore Vikings welcomed Blackstone Valley to Hanover in a pivotal MTLL game. Each team was looking for wins to propel them into next week’s state tournament and with that on the line the two teams faced off. But first a bit of history. The first time the two teams met BVT was playing short handed and were dealt a bitter hand as the first year Vikings went to Blackstone and came away with a punishing 3-2 victory. With revenge on their minds Blackstone promised to bring their "A" game with them on Monday.

The game started off quickly with BVT scoring first, but then the two teams settled down and some good lacrosse was being played all over the field. The first quarter ended with the Blackstone capitalizing on their early goal and staking a 2-1 advantage. The second quarter brought more of the same quality lacrosse, with punishing hits and some slick stick work and the Vikings were able to put away a few extra man opportunities to tie the score at 4 apiece going into the big break. After the intermission Blackstone came out and once again got the better 12 minutes from their team but were only able to stake a one-goal advantage at the end of 3. Leading 7-6 at the beginning of the last stanza the Viking seniors who were playing in their final home game at the decided how the game was going to go from there. Riding the shoulders of Attackman Luke Barr, Midfielder/Defenseman Jeff Carlson and Midfielder/Defenseman Russ Totman the three founding fathers left yet another unforgettable chapter in our young program. As the fourth quarter played itself out the green and gold found themselves down one, 9-8 with just over 3 minutes remaining, a quick time out and a line up adjustment paid huge dividends for the Vikings as Barr found a cutting Totman who slotted home the leveler. From there on in each possession was hotly contested and the cheers and groans of the crowd grew with each passing moment. With exactly 1:01 remaining in the contest, Defenseman Sean Lloyd was forced into taking a desperate check and was whistled for slashing and BVT was awarded a power play for the remainder of the game. With their hopes now riding on the shoulders of a young, but tested man down unit the Viking bench anxiously counted down the waning seconds of the game. Counting for 2 of his 21 saves during the penalty freshman Goalie Sean Rockwood kept the surging BVT off the board and breathed new life into the team. For the first time this season the Vikings were headed into overtime. Never being there before the Vikings were not sure what to expect, the game boils down to one goal. The winner goes home happy and the loser goes home talking about what could have been, what should have been and what might have been. Each coach put his best players on the field and off they went. Blackstone controlled the opening face off and the ensuing possession but a strong defensive play forced a shot that sailed wide of the goal and Rockwood quickly backed it up. After the clear, the Vikings lost possession on a poor pass and were forced to play defense for the second time in the over time period. And once again they rose to the occasion, with Rockwood making an easy save and initiating a clear. After a botched clear and a mad scramble at the face off X the Viking defense found themselves scrambling to chase the play as it headed right down the pipe at an outnumbered Rockwood. In a last gasp attempt and using every fiber of his body Lloyd lunged out and tipped the shooters stick just as he was beginning the motion to fire home the winner. Rockwood collected the now loose ball and started our third clear. A dropped pass, and an efficient ride resulted in a broken clear once again at the face off X. however, Luke Barr had seen enough and waded into the mass of flying bodies and swinging sticks to retrieve the ball. After quickly shedding two defenders Barr found himself in a footrace to the goal with the third long stick quickly gaining on him. Finding a few more steps in his tired and aching body Luke surged ahead and cast his lot. With the third defenseman draped all over him and falling towards the crease Barr used the tried and true "dip and dunk" to slip the ball past a flailing netminder. Once this happened bedlam ensued and deliriously happy Vikings piled on top of one another in celebration. The win not only earned us a strong showing in our first year of MTLL play but it also earned us a spot in the Massachusetts State Lacrosse Tournament beginning next week. We would like to thank all of our family and friends who have supported our efforts throughout this season. See you at the next one! At 5:22 PM our perfect day got a little more perfect.

Vikings Lacrosse

Article 7, May 22, 2003

Finally after 49 days, playing through difficult weather conditions, strong competition, and long bus rides the 2003 lacrosse season has reached its conclusion. Sort of. We have had so much fun in compiling an 8-6 record that we decided to extend our season a bit longer and go to the Massachusetts State Lacrosse Tournament. But before we get ahead of ourselves lets recap the last week of the season.

After Monday’s win we quickly turned around and traveled to league leading Tri-County for a rematch from a week ago. Unfortunately for the Vikings we came out slowly and seemed to be feeling the effects of Monday’s effort. The Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 first quarter lead before going on to a 14-4 victory. Scoring all four goals for the Vikings was Sophomore Midfielder Rob Howlett.

On Thursday we boarded the bus once again for our last regular season game and traveled to Wakefield to take on the dangerous Northeast Metro Tech. The Vikings took advantage of some early miscues by the hosts and ran away with the game by halftime. From there on out NE Metro tried to desperately make a come back by any means necessary, however the traveling South Shore team would have none of it and went about our business as usual. The final score was 11 for the good guys and 4 to the hosts.

This season we were offensively led by the one and only Luke Barr. As our Captain and most experienced leader his name at the top of the stat sheet was expected, but certainly no one expected numbers like this: 27 goals, 24 assists for 51 points.

Also having a huge year, in his first season was Dave Newell. The freshman phenom was on the end of many of Luke’s feeds and Dave quickly showed us that he knew what to do with the ball. Dave’s stat line reads 32g 3a 35pts

Russ Totman at 9-1-10 : and Rob Howlett (15-1-16 ) were our main threats at midfield. Russ’s numbers are relatively depressed because for the last four games of the season Russ was asked to play close defense to fill in for an injury. Without any hesitation or thought to what it would do to his personal stat line Russ agreed to the position switch. Without his selfless attitude our season certainly wouldn’t have been as successful. Rob has come on as of late and has gone from being and early season role player who was hampered by a few nagging injuries to becoming our top middie.

Also getting valuable minutes at midfield are face off men Jeff Carlson, who as one of our "founding fathers" is now reaping the rewards for his hard work, and frosh face off man Kevin MacDonald. Additionally Nick Farrish, James Hain and Lenny Cipulo have put down the groundwork for a bright future.

Defensively Co Captain and penalty leader Sean Lloyd lead our long stick corps. Anchoring our young defense Lloyd made tremendous strides as a player this year and our defense will go as far as Lloyd leads us. Chris Austin supported him on one side and Zach Shea on the other.

Standing between the pipes, and frequently on his head was Sean Rockwood. Sean turned in an outstanding performance this season as our starting goalie and without his reflexes, sharp hands and slightly off-center personality we would have not had the type of season that we are currently enjoying.

Next up for the Vikings in the first round of the state tournament will be at Medfield at 1 PM. That game will be played on Saturday May 31. Hope to see you there and thank you for all of your continued support during our inaugural season.