Post publication updates:
Melrose defeats Stoneham 13-5 (May 19)
Melrose falls to Marblehead 11-4 (May 15)
Published May 16, 2025
Melrose boy’s lacrosse tames Wildcats in 15-1 win
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High boy’s varsity lacrosse team is in a good position as they approach the final stretch of their regular season thanks to two straight wins this week that has them 6-7 on the season and Power Ranked at press time #23 with four games to go. That Div. 2 Power Ranking has them poised to once again enter playoffs, a very familiar place for Melrose.
The Wilmington Wildcats were no match for Melrose on Tuesday, when Melrose hosted them at home, and beat the Wildcats, 15-1. It was nearly a shutout for Melrose who saw only Wilmington’s Cameron Gray score in the 3rd period to break the shutout.
Goalies Noah Fay and Matt Plumer got the job done at the net, along with Melrose defense, allowing almost no scoring opportunities for Wilmington the entire game.
Leading scoring for Melrose was Nick Hitchman who had 4 goals, and it was also a strong day by Finn Alpers who had 2 goals and 4 assists. But it was a collective effort of Melrose players who scored on goals and tallied assists, and they helped Melrose take a very quick lead of 6-0 at the of the first, and later, 10-0 at the half behind the work of Alpers, Hitchman, Leo Kleinbub (2 goals, 1 assists) Quinn Fogarty (2 goals) and Robert Pino (1 goal).
It was all Melrose early and faceoff work by Charlie Hoskins proved essential.
In the third, Wilmington was able to earn more possession but Melrose defense clamped down, prompting many turnovers. That was taken advantage of by Melrose’s Finn Alpers and Nick Hitchman who both scored in the quarter. In the fourth, Melrose saw goals from CJ Cook and 2 goals from Colby Higgins and Melrose only allowed the shutout to be broken when Cam Gray found the net at 8:40.
The win comes on the heels of their 15-2 win over Woburn on May 9. Leading scoring for Melrose was Nick Hitchman and Finn Alpers with 5 goals each and individual goals from Sean Maher, Colby Higgins, Rocco Kraunelis and CJ Cook. Solid ground ball work was done by Milo Mujali, Anders Giuliano and Dylan Mestijan.
Melrose has four games left on the docket, including two Freedom contests against Stoneham and Watertown. Melrose will host the Spartans on Monday at 4:15 p.m.