PHOTOS: Medfield Boys' Lax Beats Walpole to Advance in D2 State Tourney

The Medfield High School boys' lacrosse team opened its MIAA Division 2 state title defense with a 12-4 victory over No. 27 Walpole in Tuesday's D2 East Sectional preliminary round.

"It was a great team effort, we got a lot of guys contributing," said Medfield co-head coach Mike Douglas. "Both ends of the field played well."

Leading 2-1 midway through the second quarter, Medfield, the bracket's sixth seed, was in need of a spark.

The Warriors' defense responded – frustrating Walpole's offense and converting transition into scoring.

"I was pretty proud of our defensive guys," Douglas said. "They kind of picked up the offense there. They played great defense, holding them to one goal for that stretch and also scoring two goals and getting an assist."

Medfield's Ben Cox extended the Warriors' lead, 3-1, with 6:55 to play in the second quarter. That score would hold up the rest of the way as Medfield entered halftime with the two-goal advantage.

"Ben Cox played great defense and got that goal when we were struggling to score," Douglas said. "That picked the sideline up, picked everybody up."

In the first half, Medfield dominated time of possession but could not put enough shots on Walpole's goaltender, James O'Neill.

"We weren’t putting shots on net," Douglas said of his team's effort in the first half. "We were getting looks all over the field all game, we just weren’t finishing. ... "We felt like if we kept shooting than eventually they’d start falling."

The adjustment was made in the second half and the results showed. Medfield put more shots on net in the final 24 minutes of play, netting nine goals in that stretch.

"Keep shooting, keep putting shots up there because they’ll start falling," Douglas said. "It’s kind of like basketball, shoot your way out of it. They were taking quality shots and they’ll start hitting twine eventually."

Cal Given and Andrew Melvin led Medfield's attack with three goals apiece and six other Warriors added a goal each:

• Ben Cox
• Tommy Conlon
• Matt Crowell
• Conor Roddy
• Clay Richard
• Jack Isaf

"I was really proud with the way we dominated possession of the game and dominated the groundballs and came out and did what we were talking about, which was to outwork them," Douglas said.

Next up, Medfield (15-4) will host the winner of Wednesday's (22) Triton at (11) Marblehead game in the D2 East Sectional first round, which will be held Friday at 5 p.m. on the MHS turf.

"If we want to keep advancing we got to play better," Douglas said. ... "Groundballs and possession are going to be huge down the stretch, especially in the tournament."

Douglas added Medfield will also have to put teams away much earlier than they did against Walpole Tuesday.

"We got to finish those shots early in the game, if you let a good team hang around that's dangerous," Douglas said.

It also helps that Medfield seems to be getting healthy at the right time.

"Cam Donnelly was back at midfield and he's always a game-changer and it was good to have him back out there Hopefully we are starting to get guys healthy and back on the field. It's kind of been a battle all year."