Boys Lacrosse Loses Season Opener 8-4

The Whaler boys lacrosse team knew they had their hands full entering Saturday morning's matchup against Pembroke to begin their season. While Nantucket only scored four goals in an 8-4 loss to the Titans, head coach Sam Aloisi said he was overall happy with how his team played.

"I honestly thought we played pretty well," Aloisi said. "This was our first game and this was Pembroke's fourth, so that doesn't play to our advantage. I thought our defense was really good. George Boucher was really solid for us in net."

Nantucket will lean on their depth to win games this season, but getting this group of midfielders and attackers up to speed and comfortable with the level of play and speed at the varsity level will be critical for the Whalers moving forward.

Nantucket had four different goal scorers. Sophomores Colton Chambers and Jack Halik each scored. Seniors Cosmo Tedeschi and Hudson Perry also scored.

"We didn't play bad on offense we just had some costly dropped passes and some really good shot opportunities that we weren't able to take advantage of and instead shot right at the goalie," Aloisi said. "Pembroke won the faceoff battle which was big for them, but I think a lot of the issues are first game problems. We can fix this stuff and I think that we will be able to get them back when they visit the island later on in the season."

The Whalers hit at least three or four pipes and dropped over a half dozen passes in the opponent's crease. Boucher finished his day with eight saves.

"We have a ton of athleticism and speed which allows us to play really good defense since we can really keep up with anybody on the field," Aloisi said. "The offense could be challenging this year because of some of the inexperience, but the amount of talent we have should help us overcome that to an extent. We are going to work on and try some different things this week in practice. I also think losing someone like James Culkins (2021 Nantucket graduate) was a huge blow because he was Mr. Everything for us. But myself and the rest of the coaching staff feel good about this group as we move along here."

The Whalers will have a few days to fix some of the issues Aloisi and his coaching staff identified on this past weekend before they host St. John Paul II on Thursday, April 14, at 4 p.m. and Plymouth South on Saturday, April 16, at 11 a.m.