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Sports

Needham Lacrosse Defeats Xaverian, 12-8

The Hawks fall to 1-2 on the season.

It’s important to begin a new season on the right foot, but against a school that has given Needham quite a lot of trouble on both the grassy turf and a sheet of ice, the Rockets knew that a win against Xaverian Brothers on Thursday would be an important way to start.

The Rockets defeated the Hawks, 12-8, on Thursday and watched Will Stenberg, Nico Panepinto and Jamie McGill record at least three goals, while Alex Sternberg denied roughly 13 shots between the pipes. 

“It was a great self-discovery, a time for us to kind of get a solid win against a very competitive program,” said Needham head coach David Wainwright. "It was one of those games, it was up and down, [it was] anyone’s game. Even though we retained the lead, we felt that Xaverian was always in the game.”

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After allowing three quick strikes from Stenberg and McGill, Xaverian was then staring at a 3-0 deficit in the middle of the first quarter. Needham appeared flawless, both on offense and defense, but they did however allowed goals from Cam Murphy, Rob Cavanaugh and Tom Dion during the first half.

The Rockets though tacked on an additional two goals before halftime, as once again, McGill and Stenberg helped secure a 5-3 lead at the break.

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“Needham did a great job defensively and through the midfield,” Xaverian head coach Tim Gardner said. “I think they really won the hustling game.”

The Hawks began the second half where they ended the first, in Needham’s zone, as Dion netted his second goal of the contest. His goal, which brought Xaverian within one point of Needham electrified the Hawks, but the Rockets made sure to bury their hopes of a possible comeback, as they recorded five goals during the third quarter and an additional two during the final period.

Needham recorded 12 shots throughout the entire second half and a majority of those were goals recorded by Stenberg, Panepinto and Jesse Kiel.

“[Stenberg] is a good player,” said Gardner. “If you don’t put a body on him, he’s going to beat you. He moved really well and really earned his opportunities to shoot. He’s a good player.” 

Said Wainwright, “Will Stenberg is basically our most decorated player in the history of our program. He’s going to be breaking the all-time scoring record soon in Needham history, but he handles it with maturity and he’s very humble about his abilities and I think that’s what makes him the leader that he is."

Despite Needham’s dominance throughout the second half, Xaverian was able to record goals from Keegan Silk, Ryan Scheib and Liam Driscoll.

While the Hawks fell to 1-2 on the season, the Rockets earned an important win that Stenberg said he certainly feels will help his squad for the rest of the season.

“Xaverian is always a great team and they had our number in the past, but coming in this year, we had high expectations and to come out with this win right now is huge” said Stenberg. “We know we can’t get too high because it is just one win.”

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