By Christopher Tremblay

Although the Norwood Boy’s Lacrosse Team has only three athletes who participate in club lacrosse, the squad is looking to finally get back on the turf and play some lacrosse.
“The majority of these kids put their sticks down two years ago after the season ended and haven’t picked them up again until about a month ago,” Mustang Coach Danny Reyes said.  “Not having a season last year due to Covid, the boys are super excited to be back on to the field; they are chomping at the bit to get going.”
The Mustangs find themselves with a much smaller team than they are used to this season; so small there will not even be a junior varsity squad this year.
“Over the past three years there seems to be a lull in youth lacrosse in the area and we lost three or four athletes who opted out either due to the pandemic concerns or jobs,” the coach said. “So needless to say, Norwood is looking to rebuild the team and program.”
Reyes will be looking to senior captains Harry Leduc and Jared Shea, both midfielders, who will see limited action at the attack position, as well as defenseman Anthony Scavotto to lead the team.
“Having such a small team, Harry and Jared will see an extended amount of time on the field (pretty much every minute) so they will see some reps at attack to catch their breath,” Reyes said. “As midfielders, they are running the field constantly from offense to getting back on defense, so from time to time they’ll need that rest.”
All three captains know Reyes and his style of play as he has been their coach since youth lacrosse around fifth grade.
The three club lacrosse players include junior Kyle Ledger, a very physical and athletic long stick middie and sophomores Kevin Sople (midfielder) and Richie Carroll (attack). Although sophomores, this will be their first actual varsity season due to the cancellation of their freshmen campaign. Having not played varsity lacrosse, the Norwood coach believes it will not impact either player as they have gotten their reps this past summer and fall with their respective club teams.
Looking to keep the opposition off the scoreboard will be junior Jack Curran, who will be playing in his first varsity season.
“I am hoping that Jack is a bright spot this season,” Reyes said. “Two years ago as a freshman, he was the junior varsity goalie and saw some occasional action on the varsity squad as the back-up. He is very athletic with good reflexes and has grown about four inches since he last took the field. Thus far in practice he has looked really good and seems to have gotten faster.”
According to the Norwood coach, the Tri- Valley league is very competitive with the likes of Medfield, Dover-Sherborn, and Hopkinton being the cream of the crop. In a 14 game season, Reyes sees the Mustangs as a middle of the pack team.
“Our goals are to be a more dynamic team when it comes to offense this season. We’ll be running a more settled offense since we don’t have the numbers for a transition game,” Reyes said. “I am hoping that the players can take more initiative on the field themselves instead of me yelling from the sidelines.”
Norwood opened the season with back-to-back home games against Dedham and Holliston on May 5th and 6th. After taking down Dedham 15-3, the Mustangs fell to Holliston to go 1-1 on the early season.