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Rebuilt Pingree wears New England crown

Tuesday, May, 27 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

Ned Jackson could make the argument that sometimes it's better to not have a senior-laden team.

The Pingree boys lacrosse co-head coach may not have had the same thoughts in mid-March. But now that the Highlanders are the New England Small School Tournament champs, he has proof to back up the claim.

Just one year ago, the Highlanders | who were loaded with senior leaders | fell in the tournament final. This year was supposed to be a rebuilding process, yet a Pingree team full of underclassmen finished the year on a seven-game win streak, including three consecutive victories in the New England tournament.

"Sometimes seniors are not exactly focused (in the spring season)," Jackson said. "We had a fresh crop of kids with a whole new attitude. We couldn't have asked for a better team in terms of working hard."

It's not like Jackson is totally bashing seniors here. In fact, two of the four seniors on Pingree were two of the best, most focused players in the Eastern Independent League. Goalie Tim Weinstein, a captain from Marblehead, and long pole middie Matt Spurling of Byfield were both named All-Conference and were two of the biggest reasons why the Pingree defense was so tight.

The Highlanders also had all-conference performers in sophomore midfielder Jack Williamson of Hamilton, who led the team in scoring, junior middie Adam Rimmer of Newbury and junior defender Josh Shain of Hamilton.

A slow start to the season was quickly forgotten when the Highlanders soon started rolling.

"We dropped a couple of games to teams we felt like we should have beaten. We weren't hitting our stride then," Jackson said. "By the last two weeks of the regular season, we were playing well. The seven-game win steak was actually against some decent teams."

Jackson and coaching partner Alan McCoy were actually thinking the Highlanders might have the potential for a long tournament run.

"You know, I think that it was always there in the back of our heads," Jackson said. "I think we didn't expect to be seeded so well. We went into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and that helped getting two home games."

Pingree defeated Williams in the first round, 10-4, and followed it with an impressive 13-4 triumph over The Hyde School. The championship was locked up with a 10-8 win over Berwick on Saturday | a measure of revenge for Berwick's two-goal victory over Pingree in the championship final last year.

The players on the team sensed | without being cocky | that they were going to win the title this time around.

"Weinstein said to me as we were warming up before the game, 'I don't think I've ever seen a Pingree team so focused on a game,'" Jackson said.

The future obviously still looks bright. Weinstein, Spurling, Henry Stanislaw of Hamilton and Quentin Leahy of Hampton, N.H., are the only graduating players.

"On attack we have two freshmen (back). Of our middies that play, lots of time we have three freshmen. Six or seven of our top players are freshmen, so that's certainly encouraging," Jackson said.

"We'll hurt in other places, especially at goalie and long pole. (Weinstein and Spurling) were two of the best in the league. But you have to think kids were putting up decent numbers (as underclassmen) . They're green, but they're definitely going to get better with experience."

Pingree's season is not exactly over, either. The Highlanders will host the Japanese Under-19 team tomorrow at their South Hamilton campus at 4:30.