By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
NORTH READING — The Cape Ann League boys’ lacrosse coaches recently met to select their All-Star teams and three North Reading High players were named to the CAL Second-Team All-Stars.
The three Hornets to make the roster were David Tran, Andrew Taylor and Finn Rodger.
For Tran, it was his second year in a row on the Second Team. The senior goalie went 10-9 with a goals-against average of 11. Tran saved 45 percent of his shots and he averaged 9 saves per game.
“He was a fantastic leader,” stated Hornets head coach Chuck Campobasso. “He improved every year and kept us in a lot of games. He is one of the best goalies in the area.”
Taylor, a senior defenseman, made the team for the second time in a row as well.
“We always matched him up with the opponent’s top scorer and he did a great job,” said Campobasso. “He is a textbook type of defender and is very sound fundamentally.”
Rodger made his first-ever postseason team with the All-Star nod. The senior midfielder had 23 goals to go with 16 assists as he finished with 39 points.
Rodger was third on the team in goals and fourth in both overall points and assists.
“He does it all for us,” said Campobasso. “He is a smart athlete that is a jack of all trades. He plays everywhere on the field.”
This season, the Hornets reached the MIAA Division 4 Round of 16 before losing to Norwell, 11-2 on the road. With that defeat, North Reading ended the year at 10-10 overall.
Norwell ended up winning the Div. 4 state title last Saturday as they beat Cohasset, 11-6, at Mass. Maritime.
The Hornets went 6-7 overall in the CAL and were 4-4 in the CAL Kinney Division as they finished tied for third place.
At the team’s recent banquet, Campobasso gave out four awards with two players sharing two of the awards.
Dylan O’Driscoll and Brendan Gazda each shared the Offensive Player of the Year Award. O’Driscoll is a freshman attacker while Gazda is a sophomore attacker.
Taylor received the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Junior defenseman, Jack Conlon, took home the Coaches Award.
The team MVP Award was also a shared one as it went to Rodger and Tran.
Along with Tran, Taylor, and Rodger, the team will lose seven other seniors including PJ Conte and Owen Phillips, who were the captains along with Tran.
“The seniors were a great group of guys,” stated Campobasso, who just finished his 23rd year at the helm. “They worked hard and took on a lot of the responsibility. They gave us depth which helped us.”
Campobasso was pleased with the team’s performance this year.
“Overall, we did well as we had some key wins against good team like Essex Tech and Pentucket,” he pointed out. “We also had the playoff win and were able to celebrate our 20th-anniversary as a varsity team, so it was special.”
The Hornets are expecting to have 11 veterans return next spring with four of them being starters.
The captains were also picked for next year and they will be Gavin Wesley (long-stick midfielder), Conrad Gerber (midfielder) and Chip Harrington (goalie). All three will be seniors next year.