By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — Last week, the Lynnfield High boys’ lacrosse team had its end-of-season banquet. Head coach Pat Lamusta gave out six awards that evening.
The MVP Award went to senior Jack Calichman who is the team’s all-time points and assist leader. The Offensive Player of the Year went to Kelan Cardinal who led the team in points this year with 88 as he had 37 goals and 51 assists.
Steve Dreher took home the Defensive Player of the Year Award as he was an Cape Ann League First-Team All-Star this year. It is the senior’s first all-star appearance.
The Unsung Hero Award went to senior defenseman James Sharkey while sophomore defenseman, Aiden Norton, received the Most Improved Player Award.
Senior co-captain, Drew Damiani, got the final award as the CAL First-Team All-Star got the Coaches Award. Damiani, an attacker, made the first-team all-stars for the second year in a row as he had 21 goals and 11 assists despite missing four games due to injury.
This spring, Lynnfield reached the MIAA Division 4 Round of 8 game.before losing to Sandwich, 13-4, on June 9th to end the year at 12-9. They beat Hamilton-Wenham in the first round and Manchester-Essex in the second round before losing to Sandwich.
In the Cape Ann League, they went 5-7 as they came in third place in the Baker Division.
“We had a group of players that moved through the obstacles we had with injuries all season,” said Lamusta, who just completed his third year at the helm. “They were ready to compete at a high level and they did.”
The Pioneers will lose five seniors to graduation, Calichman, Damiani, Dreher, Sharkey and face-off specialist Bryce Kay. Calichman, Damiani, Dreher and Sharkey were the four captains.
“The seniors had to deal with adversity from the start having to miss their freshman year due to Covid,” pointed out Lamusta. “Most of them played three years with me and were good leaders for our younger players. We will miss them next year.”
Lynnfield is slated to return 17 veterans next spring.
“We have a good experienced team coming back with the big junior class we have,” said Lamusta.
The team also announced its captains next year and they will be Cardinal, Owen White, Jake Connell and AJ Chiaradonna.
Cardinal was a CAL Second-Team All-Star this season.