Two years ago, Tandem Friends school’s lacrosse program was all but extinct.
Thursday, at the close of the Badgers’ first season at the varsity level, Tandem hoisted a trophy, champions of the Delaney Athletic Conference with an 11-2 victory over Wakefield County Day School.
“There were times early on we weren’t sure we’d have enough guys to field a team,” said Tandem’s first-year coach Eric Allen. “We had to recruit people in the first couple of weeks of practice, like this guy here, Nirmal Patel, who was a senior and just started playing this year. He was just somebody we recruited last minute when his buddies talked him into coming out.”
A pair of three sport athletes, seniors Conor Kennedy and Matt Mahoney, led the way for the Tandem offense, pouring in four goals apiece. Kennedy and Mahoney both play basketball and soccer for the Badgers as well, with Mahoney making his name as a high-scoring guard on the hardwood and a rock solid goalie on the pitch. Thursday, each had an assist as well as the four goals, and both played a big role in the offense, taking 23 shots between them.
“That’s probably the best offense we’ve played all year as far as passing the ball and making good passes,” Allen said. “I think that’s the best that we’ve probably done.”
Chris Bell chipped in three assists as well as one goal. Longstick defender Wilson Ruotolo scored on a fastbreak goal while Owen Ware had a pair of assists and a goal.
Rives Cowen, just a freshman, anchored the defense in the cage, coming up with four saves on the night. He got a lot of help from Sam Cole, who came up with a slew of interceptions as a longstick defender that led to big goals for the Badgers.
“He’s our most experienced player and really helped keep other teams from scoring a lot,” Allen said.
Tandem’s program is still developing but the DAC title was a solid step for a squad that only played a junior varsity schedule last season after a period of dormancy and had to recruit from the school’s hallways to fill out the current roster. According to Allen, Tandem had a surging program a few years ago with an 11-2 record and nearly 30 players, but the program fell on hard times. The DAC title will likely be Tandem’s final game as they sit just outside the VISAA’s Division 2 top eight at nine and losses to the seventh and eighth place squads will likely keep them there despite a strong end-of-season run.
Still, the foundation is clearly being laid. Allen clearly has the program back on the upswing.
