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. Portsmouth and St. Thomas Aquinas
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Portsmouth 04/13/21
Well now….that wasn’t what we wanted was it? An 11-5 loss to start the season when nothing seemed to work right. Tons of standing around on offense with no cutters, few shots and no drives to the net outside of the first five minutes of the game. Defense? Well…it was there…It just didn’t come to play much. Almost no physicality, no one was being a pest…no price was paid for Portsmouth to reach the goal mouth again and again and again. No one gave up the body to block the shots that were had over and over. Goalie’s? Not really known. They certainly faced a ton of shots but not one of the three that came in stood out given what they faced. Lastly, faceoffs….well…when you lose some 75%+ of them you are automatically giving the opposing team way too many possessions that if you aren’t going to play aggressive defense, are going to continue to end up with balls in the back of the net. Well…Next time it is boys. Gotta bring more than this in the next game. Portsmouth may simply be the better team but Windham can certainly close the gap and make it harder on them at the least.
As for me? Well, lacrosse is unquestionably more difficult to photograph than either basketball or football. Football is agonizingly slow in comparison to both sports which makes finding the action easy. Basketball has the advantage of a lack of equipment which makes getting great facial expressions easy. Lacrosse? It moves very fast with lots of intersecting traffic on top of all the face hiding helmets and many of the players you want to shoot never come close to you if you stay on one side or the other of the field and the endlines are “verboten” due to the “danger” of being hit by a ball. The only good thing is the light. Being outdoors and during daylight hours at least let you crank the shutter speed. So a big learning curve for me to. Hopefully I will bring a better photography game to the rest of the year.
So a toast to us both…may we all bring a better effort in the days to come.
