Lockdown. Ben Formicola ‘24 prepares to block an on-goal shot against North Farmington earlier this year. “ I didn’t think we were gonna win”, said Formicola. “We were all kind of in shock.”

As the 2022-2023 lacrosse season came to a close, the men’s team’s future was uncertain. After an underperforming season, team members were worried about what the next year would be like with 11 seniors graduating, leaving only five upperclassmen on the roster. In addition, some key team members were unsure if they would return. The only thing that was certain for this year’s team was that changes would have to be made. The all-senior captain lineup of Jacob Resnick ‘24, Ben Formicola ‘24, Mike Lucas ‘24, and Charles Branch ‘24 were determined to make their last season a success, but they had their work cut out for them.  

“My sophomore year we had one win, my junior year we had two, it would be great if we get four this year,” said Lucas. “It would set an upward trend for our younger guys and have us seniors knowing we constantly got better.”

On the first practice, the gaps left by last year’s teams were glaring. However, the team received a boost from a strong freshman class headlined by left side mid (LSM) Ben Bernstein ’27  and midfielders James Atkins ‘27 and Liam MacDougald ‘27 to help fill them. The influx of talent gave the captains hope for their season.

“The [new players] all act and play way older than their age,” said Formicola. “This gives me a lot of hope for the future of the program knowing we will have good leaders for years to come.” 

 Despite the captain’s enthusiasm, the team’s season was off to a slow start. After a hard-fought 2-16 loss at Liggett, the team reached a tough part of their schedule and fell to Farmington and hometown rivals AA Gabriel Richard, and Huron. To add to the dismal start of the season, star midfielder Peter Prokhorov ‘26 was battling injuries. Not wanting a repeat of last season the team set its sights on the next match, a very winnable away game against Riverview Gabriel Richard. Helped by a pair of goals from John Sadrack ‘26 and now recovered Prokhorov, and a late-time goal from Miles Knox ‘25 the team was able to secure its first win. Formicola attributes the win to a motivational first-quarter speech from their coach.

“He talked about how we are all playing for each other and no one player is more important than another,” said Formicola. “This motivated us and allowed us to come together and come back and win the game.

While Formicola credits his coach’s words for the team’s win, Branch suggests that team chemistry is what led to the victory

“This year the team’s culture was much more uplifting and supportive than last year,” said Branch. “All the guys are always checking up on each other making sure everyone is good and has a positive attitude. The overall atmosphere allows for success.”
With so many upperclassmen from last year’s team gone,  Prokhorov praises the team’s ability to fill those gaps and their work ethic.

“We have all worked very hard to improve our overall skill and adapt to the situation we are in this year,” said Prokhorov. All this work that we put in during practice translates to the real matches we play.”

After a rough start to the season, and many injuries across the team, the captains still had faith in the team. Following the win, Lucas credits the team’s mental strength and perseverance throughout the season.

“Even though we were losing I still had a lot of hope for our team,” said Lucas. “ We had to persevere because we didn’t have many subs, so a lot of guys played through injuries. It took a lot of mental strength for everyone to stick it up and play for the team.”

The team has already exceeded expectations but Prokhorov believes they can be even better, given their success with so many new guys.

“We were not supposed to be this good,” said Prokhorov. “ We have a really young team and no one expected us to find success. Everyone will continue to improve and I’m excited to see how the rest of the season goes.”