Sports
PHOTOS: Mercer Island Lacrosse Returns From East Coast with Winning Record
The Islanders connect with East Coast alumni and return with winning record against teams in Massachusetts and Maine
The boys Mercer Island Lacrosse Team won 2 of 3 contests against state championship teams on this year’s Spring Break trip to New England. Coach Ian O’Hearn has made the East Coast Spring Break trip a tradition, valued most for the tough competition found there. This year’s team was based in picturesque (and freezing cold) Rockport, MA, and traveled north to Maine and south to Duxbury, MA for matchups.
Four Islander lacrosse alumni play for Bentley University near Boston, where the team got a tour and took in a game. Alumni Bentley players are Steve Caditz, (Sr.), Steve Taylor (Jr.), Connor Raffety, (Soph.), and Doug Mahoney (Soph.). Although Bentley fell to Saint Michaels (6-2), former Islanders Mahoney and Caditz each scored a goal.
In Duxbury, MA, on April 2, the Islanders lost their only game of the tour to the Dragons, last year’s Div. I Championship team (8-4). Mercer Island was up 3-2 at half, but lost ground quickly in the 2nd half, allowing six goals and only getting one additional goal past the Dragon goalie.
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The Islanders took lessons learned at Duxbury north to Maine, where they easily handled the Div. I Maine State Champs, Scarborough, winning 15-2 on April 4. Mercer Island came out strong and never let up in their final game April 6, against Massachusett’s Div. II State Champs, Concord-Carlisle, beating them 7-2.
The Concord-Carlisle game was played at Harvard University, and many East coast siblings and fans took advantage and came to support their Islanders, despite cold temperatures and a wicked wind chill. Ryan Johnson, attending Northeastern University, came to see his brother Cooper Johnson (M). Devlin Conway’s sister, Kelly Conway, rode 6 hours in a bus to see Devlin play. And Doug Mahoney, Bentley University, came to watch his brother Peter, with another lacrosse alum, T.Claes Johnson, who attends Boston University.