New era: Seniors bring Weymouth High boys lacrosse back to life after winless 2023 season

Lacrosse isn't necessarily the first sport of choice for Rob O'Leary, a hockey fan at heart.

The Weymouth High athletic director has children who play lacrosse, so he has experience coaching it at the youth level, but this spring brought O'Leary a new challenge.

The Wildcats' boys lacrosse team was void of a head coach after suffering a winless, 0-19 campaign in 2023. The school posted the job vacancy in January and had no timely takers, so in jumped O'Leary to oversee both the varsity and junior varsity squads.

“Hopefully, we can change the culture and change the idea of Weymouth lacrosse," O'Leary said. "Hopefully, I can grow this a little bit as the athletic director and hand it off to somebody next spring.”

But there's no looking ahead for these Wildcats and their 14 seniors. The team clinched six wins in its first 10 games to inch closer to its first state tournament appearance since 2014.

“No senior on this team wanted to end the last two seasons without a game won," senior Nick Fernandez said.

Coming into this spring, Weymouth had lost 22 consecutive games dating back to the 2022 season, a 5-13 campaign, falling by an average margin of 10.5 goals per game with one forfeit.

“It was rough. We came out every game and we were really defeatists,” Fernandez said. “This year, we’re looking at it completely different, with a completely different approach.”

"Coming off that bad season, everyone (was) like, ‘Do we want to do this?’" senior midfielder Ronan Healy said. "(O'Leary) came in and said, 'That’s in the past.' We don’t even talk about it. We’re all-in.”

The Wildcats secured a 16-9 road win over Brookline in the season-opener on March 28 to swiftly end the drought and officially usher in the new era.

“You can feel the shift," said Healy. "We’re coming to practice differently. We’re coming to games differently. There’s been a big change in the culture.”

Weymouth will play its Bay State Conference opponents just once this season (upon O'Leary's request) because of the moving parts, with matchups against fellow South Shore teams Rockland, Silver Lake and Plymouth North new to the team's schedule.

Due to the perennial strength of the school's rugby and baseball teams, O'Leary admitted “our spring sports are fighting over the same guys.” The rugby team is the defending back-to-back Division 2 state champion, and the baseball team advanced to the Division 1 Sweet Sixteen last year, falling to Bridgewater-Raynham in a one-run thriller.

The lacrosse team, nonetheless, bolstered a smaller junior class from last year's team to join four freshman new to the fold.

“We went out and recruited the hallways, grabbed some of the hockey guys playing, got some first-time guys playing," O'Leary said.

Senior Bo Carley is a familiar name in goal. He was named a soccer All-Scholastic net minder in the fall, as he surrendered a league-best 17 goals in 23 games as Weymouth (15-4-4) reached the Division 1 Final Four. Brody Dearden, Jake Buccigross and Grady Salfity also play hockey.

After its season-opening triumph, Weymouth went on to top Boston Latin (11-5), Plymouth North (8-7), Rockland (11-9), Cambridge Rindge and Latin (14-7) and Silver Lake (8-6). In losses, the team fought Newton South to the end in overtime, 7-6, and relinquished a six-goal lead against Newton North on the road in the second game of the year to fall, 13-9.

“We’re getting there," O'Leary said. "We’re just not there yet.”

The seniors are pleased with the progress so far. The three captains -- Fernandez, Healy and Dearden -- agreed it started from a newfound commitment and leadership.

“(O'Leary) came in the first meeting and told us that we’re going to be a team, we’re going to be a family," Dearden said. "It’s a new chapter.”

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weymouth High boys lacrosse team and its seniors are in new era