'We have the belief in the room': Marshfield boys lacrosse off to perfect start

NORWELL -- Roster continuity and fast starts to seasons often go hand in hand. A good example this spring would be the Marshfield High boys lacrosse team.

The Rams graduated only two players off last season's 15-5 club that put up a good fight in a playoff loss to Xaverian in the Division 1 Round of 16. With no introductions necessary in 2024, Marshfield has come flying out of the gate with a 6-0 record.

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On Thursday the Rams won a showdown against fellow unbeaten Falmouth, 11-5, in the semifinals of the Chowda Cup, booking a place in Saturday's championship game against Scituate (4 p.m. at Scituate). The Sailors (4-2) knocked off Westwood, 9-7, in other semifinal.

"We've been playing tough competition for a few years," Marshfield coach Kevin Orcutt said. "We had two seniors last year and they were injured for an amount of time, so it's really been these kids playing up (on varsity) for a couple of years. They've taken their lumps, but we beat (Div. 4 champ) Cohasset and (Div. 3 semifinalist) Medfield last year. We also played well against Xaverian last year (in the playoffs) and I think that was our cue that we could play with (the most talented teams). And it's carried over."

Marshfield made a huge statement in its opener, beating Duxbury for what it believed to be the first time ever, 6-5.

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"The chemistry (from year to year) takes a little bit to come back, but starting off by beating Duxbury, that was a big momentum (boost)," said senior attack Graham Schofield, who had a hat trick against Falmouth (5-1). "We wanted that game. We had wanted that game for four years since we hadn't beaten them. It just kind of kicked us off and we haven't stopped yet."

The Rams have done a lot of things right so far. Start at the faceoff X, where sophomore Sam O'Brien has been dominating.

"I think that he's the MVP of our team right now," senior midfielder Nic Cupples said. "He doesn't seem to lose faceoffs. He brings it every single day. He's got that strong mentality. Just an absolute dog."

"He's doing his thing even better than last year," Schofield chimed in. "He's still learning, but he's learning fast and doing a great job."

Jake Dernier has been strong in goal, even though he wasn't exactly busy for most of Thursday's game -- until Falmouth put on a late push by scoring four straight goals to get within 10-5. Cupples ended that run, and swung momentum back to the Rams, by scooping up a loose ball near midfield and converting in transition to conclude the scoring with 3:54 left in the game.

"I saw the ball go loose. I was lucky to come up with it," Cupples said of his second goal of the game. "I just knew we needed a big play, so I went as fast as I could and finished it bottom right."

Jon Sullivan also scored twice for the Rams, and John Giberti, Brendan McLaughlin, Charlie Carroll and Andrew Robbins added single goals.

Through six games, Marshfield has outscored opponents 68-29, winning the close ones (6-5 vs. Duxbury, 8-5 vs. Sandwich, 7-6 vs. Medfield), the blowouts (18-0 over Pembroke, 18-8 over Mansfield) and everything in between (Falmouth).

"I think it starts with really bringing (the intensity) to practice," Cupples said. "We really try to compete every practice. We know what we're capable of and I think that's the most important part – that we have belief. We have the belief in the room."

"Falmouth is a legit team. And so is Medfield, which we beat the other day," Orcutt said. "We're playing serious competition, very well-coached teams with good players, and the kids are responding."

One other important note about Marshfield's 2024 season -- the Rams have dropped down to Div. 2, where they will compete with the likes of Duxbury, Hingham, Reading, Billerica and Longmeadow.

"It makes it possible for us" to win a state crown, Orcutt said of getting out of Div. 1, which has featured a St. John's Prep/BC High final each of the last three seasons. "Division 2 is war zone, too, but at least we know it's a level playing field. There's a lot of parity among the top 10 teams in Division 2. We just want to get in that mix and keep battling."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Marshfield High boys lacrosse off to undefeated start