Like I said, going back a bit for these. This was by far the most exciting high school game I have seen here in Windham. The Jaguars trailed for the entire game, never once having the lead and were down by two goals a number of times. In the end though, their offense came through in the final minutes scoring three goals late in the game including one with only about 3 seconds left to take the win. Best win of the year and put Windham into third place in DII in the State where they would stay. Literally showing their heart and blood to get the win.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Hanover 5/13/22
Going into the wayback machine here but I hadn’t gotten around to these pics yet. This was a 14-5 win for Windham that started the first of what would be 6 wins in a row to close the season and place them the third seed for the DII NH Playoffs. Game #1 is today against Alvrine who Windham has taken down twice already this year. Hopefully the team will stay healthy, get a bit of a challenge but put the game away and move on to the second round.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Portsmouth and St. Thomas Aquinas
Took some time off from posting these as there was a point where the team lost 3 of 4 games and the most important player was out with a concussion for three games…not exactly the most thrilling stuff for me to shoot. I did take some photos of these games including against Portsmouth—a loss to the best team in DII in NH and one of the top few teams in the state and St. Thomas Aquinas that is one of the top few teams of DII (also a loss). Neither was a disaster but does show the length the team has to go to play with the best. Faceoffs remain feast or famine for the team, the offense must work on cutting more to the net rather than relying on the speed and agility of individual players which can be offset by doubleteams and good stickwork, and the D could still use a bit more nastiness. But all in all? The team is at 10-3 and tied for 3rd in DII. The upcoming Timberlane game will determine the team’s seeding for the postseason. A win and they will be either the #2 or #3 seed…a loss? They could drop to 7th. This is likely the difference between a first round bye or relatively easy matchup and having to play a peer in the first round and possibly Portsmouth or Derryfield in the second. Timberlane will be a challenge...a true coinflip of a game. Each have beaten teams the other has lost to and lost to teams the other has beaten. Timberlane was the runner up to Portsmouth in ‘21 for the state championship and will not likely wilt. Enjoy the pics!
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Alvrine 04/26/22
Well, we better enjoy this one as it may be the last one for a bit. A 20-4 in Hudson vs. Alvrine runs Windham’s record to 6-0 and an 8th place ranking in the state amongst all lacrosse teams (D1 included). The game was played in a steady rain which made photography conditions dark but my focusing seemed to be back on point and produced some good images that have a distinctly different feeling that the bright sun and deep shadows of prior games. Defense was smothering again though Alvrine clearly has issues in some basic skillsets making turnovers and pressure easy to generate. Offense came fast and furious with Windham simply passing the ball in a circle without any attempt at scoring for about the last 8 minutes of the game. If anything the win was more dominating than the 15-2 win Windham had over Alvrine earlier in the year.
That said, Windham now enters the heart of their schedule with Derryfield, St. Thomas Aquinas, Winnacunnet, and Portsmouth accounting for the next four games. Windham could easily go 0-4 in those games and should consider going 2-2 in those games to be a solid accomplishment. Derryfield is #6 in the state while Portsmouth is the defending state champion and is ranked 4th in the state and Winnacunnet 11th while St. Thomas Aquinas played Winnacunnet to a standstill earlier in the year and beat Hollis-Brookline 16-1 (Windham beat them 18-8). Most at risk in the next 4 games is Windham’s defense who hasn’t really had to play any tough competition all year. Without being tested, Windham doesn’t really know what it has on the back end. These games will tell whether they are a contender or pretender feasting on easy competition.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Salem 04/22/22
Another home game, another win. Having issues with the camera and not focusing the way I want and so the shots are limited and I deleting 90% of what I took…just wasn’t happy with the results. The game was a 13-5 win but it was far more nail biting than that looks. Windham was down 3-0 to start and the D1 Salem team looked to have taken Windham on its heals being down its most senior defender.
The defense clamped down and allowed only two goals after the first quarter and the offense picked up the remaining slack to take the win. No comments beyond that. A nice way to show that they can come back from a punch and not quit.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Alvirne 04/18/22
I had not posted anything on the past Friday’s game—which was a 16-0 shutout of Kingswood who was supposed to be a decent team this year due to it being an evening game under what passed for “lights”. I quit taking pictures at the half as it just wasn’t worth it. I can crank the ISO and get shots that look fair on a .25” by .25” square but its not worth my time to even look through those let alone edit them…so into the trash they go.
Monday’s 15-2 win over Alvirne is a different story. At least there are some good shots from that game, as relatively uncompetitive as it was. Likely the most physical game of the year so far there were some decent hits given in both direction and a number of fouls as well. Windham kept up its heavy scoring attack and were kept to 15 goals by some great play by the Alvirne goalie who was their best player on the day. Despite the score, Windham got frustrated at times with the saves he was making to the point of trying trick shots and a number of skip shots to try and get past the keeper. Prior games saw Windham scoring on what appeared to be about 2/3 of their shots where here they got more shots off but only were scoring on about 40% if I had to guess.
Windham’s defense also had to play on its heals a bit more than in prior games with a number of “man down” situations. This was what was most notable as Windham’s D in these situations stood strong and kept the Alvirne shooters to the outside and frustrated their ability to get clean looks in a dangerous position. This bodes well for the remainder of the season if they can keep it up. Too often do High School lacrosse players allow shooters to get their arms and hands free vs. staying in the chest and hips of their opponents and here we saw great improvement in this area. Windham goalie Jack Milano was once again more than up to the task of saving the bulk of shots sent his way and remains an anchor in making smart and crisp passes out of the crease.
Wednesday brings what should (though I thought this of the Alvirne game too…) be the first big test of Windham’s season. Losing out in the first round of the ‘21 playoffs to Hollis-Brookline in a bitter 18-9 defeat, Windham will be out for a bit of redemption but as we saw last year where Windham came into the playoffs with a higher seed…nothing can be taken for granted.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Salem 05/14/21
Running their record now to 8-5 with their 8th win in a row, this one, like the prior Salem game was easy. Never in doubt and little effort required on the part of the Windham defense—which is unfortunate as that is where they need the most work. This puts them squarely in the middle of the DII seedings for the end of year tournament.
