Mallards Sink Vikings 13-1 to Get Back to .500

BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s men’s varsity lacrosse team
thumped visiting Cambridge, 13-1, in its home opener on Tuesday to erase any
lingering doubts from a tough weekend at a holiday tournament in Baltimore last
Saturday.

The Mallards opened the regular season with a resounding
16-1 win over Salisbury School last Thursday before hitting the road for an
Easter holiday tournament at McDonough School in Baltimore on Saturday.
Worcester dropped a pair of games in that tournament including a 15-5 loss to
host McDonough, but the Mallards regrouped for an impressive win over visiting
Cambridge on Tuesday.

Worcester led 3-0 after a well-played first quarter by
both teams before opening the game up in the decisive second quarter. Travis
Gregory got the big second quarter rolling with a goal at the 8:40 mark and
Will Regan converted a perfect feed on the crease about 20 seconds later to
extend the lead to 5-0 with 8:21 remaining in the second quarter.

Cambridge got on the scoreboard about halfway through the
second quarter when a pair of overlapping penalties by Worcester put the
Vikings in a two man-up situation. With four defenders guarding six Cambridge
players in the box, the Vikings passed around the perimeter until they found a
seam a got a shot past Mallard goalie Christian Coates for what would be their
only goal of the game.

Worcester got that goal right back about a minute later
when Gregory hit Max DiFillipo with a perfect feed right on the crease after
drawing a double team. DiFillipo converted the assist and the Mallard lead was
extended to 6-1 with about 4:23 remaining in the second.

Less than a minute later, Worcester scored again to make
it 7-1 with 3:49 left in the first half on a goal by Justin Butler. Hank Fisher
added another goal at the 2:38 mark to make it 8-1, and Regan scored the sixth
and final goal of the second quarter for Worcester at the 1:37 mark in the
period as the Mallards took a decisive 9-1 lead into halftime.

Regan picked up where he left off at the end of the first
half with another goal at the beginning of the third quarter to extend the
Worcester lead to 10-1. Greg Butler got into the act about halfway through the
third quarter with his first goal of the game to push the lead to 11-1 with
6:12 remaining in the period.

DiFilippo then threaded a perfect feed on the crease to
Regan, who converted the assist for his fourth goal of the game and the
Mallards led 12-1. Worcester scored its final goal of the game when long-stick
defender Hunter Marshall led a fast break before hitting Hank Fisher in stride
in front of the Cambridge goal for a 13-1 lead. Neither team scored in the
fourth quarter after both coaches cleared their benches.

The win improved Worcester’s early season record to 2-2
with big wins over Salisbury School and Cambridge and the two losses in the
McDonough Easter Tournament. Regan led all scorers with four goals, while
Gregory scored two goals and dished out four assists. DiFillipo scored two
goals and added two assists, while Christian Payne scored a goal and chipped in
two assists and Hank Fisher had a goal and two assists.

The big win over Cambridge came at the perfect time for
Worcester after the tournament in Baltimore last Saturday. Worcester scheduled
a handful of games each year against some of the top teams in the Baltimore
area as a sort of barometer for how the program is developing and this year was
no different.

Worcester lost to host McDonough, 15-5, in its first game,
but the score was probably not indicative of how close the game was in terms of
talent on the field. McDonough got off to a fast start and led 8-0 at the half
before the Mallards recovered and made it a close game for much of the second
half. Gregory scored three goals, while Bunting and Butler each added single
goals in the loss.

In
Worcester’s second game of the tournament, the Mallards fell to Radnor (Pa.),
10-4, after trailing 6-2 at the half. Payne scored three goals in the loss and
Butler added a single goal. The highlight for Worcester in the tournament was
the outstanding play of goalkeeper Christian Coates, who recorded 17 saves in
the loss to McDonough and 14 saves in the loss to Radnor.