Lax Lowdown: Plenty of North Shore marksmen hit triple digits for career scoring

May 12—The benchmark we use to determine the all-time scoring greats in lacrosse is 175 points. There have been 50 boys in our readership area who have hit that benchmark over the years, including 37 who finished their high school careers with 200 or more points.

But because of an entirely lost 2020 season due to Covid-19, no one is going to join that illustrious list this spring.

That's not to say, however, that there aren't scoring milestones that have already been hit by some of the area's top marksmen, or some that could be reached by other players before the season concludes in late June.

Thus far, we've had eight players reach the century mark in career points in 2022.

Essex Tech junior attack Bryan Swaczyk leads the way; with 39 goals, 33 assists and 72 points so far this season, he's got 66-71-137 totals in just two varsity seasons. He's a virtual cinch to reach the 175-point mark early next spring — although with five regular season contests remaining for the Hawks, plus any playoff games they'll play, there's a chance that Swaczyk — who is averaging six points every time he steps on the field — could do so before the end of his 11th grade campaign.

Swaczyk's teammate, senior captain David Egan, cracked the 100-point barrier in a 12-9 win over Shawsheen when he scored twice and added an assist. Thanks to a monster spring thus far — he's the runaway leading scorer in the area with 49 goals, 37 assists and 86 points — the Boxford native now has 59-43-102 career marks.

Fellow junior attackman Manny Alvarez-Segee, a Bishop Fenwick captain, has 123 career points (73 goals, 50 assists) in a shade over a season-and-a-half. With 42-23-65 totals this season, he hit 100 points with a 9-point performance against Bishop Stang on the last day of April. With the rest of this season and all of 2023 to go, Alvarez-Segee is a pretty good bet to join that 175-Point Club when he's a senior.

Two Marblehead Magicians have also gone over 100 points already, with one likely to join Swaczyk and Alvarez-Segee in the rarified air of 175 or more career points before he hangs up his stick for good.

Senior captain and attack Josh Robertson is currently at 117 points for Marblehead, with 71 goals and 46 assists. He has impressive 41-15-56 totals this spring. Junior midfielder Connor Cronin will have another year to add to his current 60-51-111 totals; his 57 points (27 goals, 30 assists) are currently one better than his captain's.

Junior attack Jimmy Ayers of St. John's Prep has 76 goals, 42 assists and 118 points for the defending Division 1 state champions in a season-and-a-half of varsity lacrosse. It appears highly likely he'll also be joining the 175-Point Club before he heads off to play at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 2023.

Ayers' teammate and fellow attackman, senior Tommy Sarni, will soon hit 100 points with two more points. He currently has 60 goals, 38 points and points and is one of the few current players who put up varsity numbers (2-1-3) as a freshman in 2019.

Were it not for that lost 2020 season as well as an injury earlier this season, Masconomet's Andrew Aylwin would probably be a lock for 175 career points. Recently returning to the Chieftains' lineup, his 106 points (61 goals, 45 assists) are impressive numbers over the equivalent of 2-plus seasons.

Swampscott sharpshooter Jack Russo, who has helped the Big Blue win a season-best four straight contests, is now a 100-point scorer (105, to be exact). The Big Blue's leading scorer (37-16-53) has 71 goals and 34 career assists thus far.

Another newcomer to triple digits career-wise is Pingree captain Jack Savoie. With a 3-goal, 4-assist effort against Cushing last week, the attackman hit 100 points exactly and currently has 56-56-112 totals for his career.

Highlanders teammate and midfielder Jack Feeks, another captain, will likely join him this weekend. Leading Pingree in goals (37) and points (58) this season, he's at 58-41-99 for his career.

There are other local players who are within reach of hitting personal scoring milestones, too.

Colby Dunham of Danvers needs 18 points to hit 100, certainly an achieveble mark. He has 23 goals and 39 points to lead the Falcons in both categories this spring, and sits at 42-40-82 overall.

Swampscott senior Zack Pierce needs 14 points (61 goals, 25 assists). His teammate, Jason Codispoti (38-8-46) should surpass 50 points soon.

Beverly's Gavin Lawrence needs 10 goals to hit 50 for his career; Mason Simpson is 17 away from that mark.

Junior Henry Wright of Ipswich passed the 50-goal career mark Tuesday; he's now at 51-15-66 for his career. He might not hit 100 points before season's end, but should be a lock early in 2023.

Marblehead junior Carter Laramie (34-15-49) needs one point for 50 during his high school days to date. Cam Collins of Peabody (26-16-42) is eight away while Tanner sophomore teammate Matthew Bettencourt (29-10-39) needs 11 more and Nick Salvati (25-6-31) is within striking distance as well.

Pingree, which has all kinds of gifted players on its roster, recently saw senior Charlie Faldi (29-30-59), and juniors Mekhi Taylor (37-17-54) and Riley McClure (35-17-52) reach 50 points. They'll soon be joined by sophomore Bodie Cannata (31-10-41).

St. John's Prep senior Charlie Wilmot (35-16-51) also cracked 50 points recently; sophomore Jake Vana (23-14-37) should join him long before the Eagles' season is finished.

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They're still searching for their first win of the season, but the Salem Witches are making progress with every game.

Wednesday's 10-6 setback to Somerville was one of their best efforts, with T.J. McCarthy (4 goals, assist) equaling the Witches' goal total through their first 10 games all by himself. Connor Rivera and A.J. Alessi both tallied their first varsity goals, Will Cuevas won eight faceoffs to give Salem possession more often than not, and goaltender Maher Kokonezis upped his save total to 212 for the season (an average of almost 19.3 per contest).

"I'm really proud of our players' efforts and offensive showing today," said first-year head coach Reilly Christie. "We've kept preaching to get one percent better every day, and we've improved a ton over the course of the season."

Salem has also received some excellent defensive play from Fred Ferrioli of late.

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Good to hear that Hudson Durant should be returning to the Pingree lineup this weekend at Tilton. The lefty attackman has missed all season with an injury, but has rehabbed his way back and is eager to go. Having scored 14 goals a year ago, Durant's offensive prowess will add even more firepower to a squad that has won a dozen straight, including a 17-4 beatdown of Portsmouth Abbey Wednesday.

Incidentally, Pingree (15-3) is the only North Shore team that has five scorers with at least 40 points: captains Jack Feeks (37-21-58) and Jack Savoie (28-28-56); junior middies Riley McClure (32-15-47) and Mekhi Taylor (28-13-41), and senior attack Charlie Faldi (23-17-40).

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Two Northeastern Conference teams that have turned their seasons around with strong play over the last two weeks are Peabody and Swampscott. The Tanners have won four in a row and are 7-5; the Big Blue have captured five consecutive wins and climbed over .500 at 7-6.

Peabody doesn't score in bunches (80 goals in 11 games), but have won three by one goal while tightening up its team defense. Derek Patturelli is the last line of defense between the pipes; fellow senior Scott Turner, a Tanner captain, leads a defensive corps that gets important contributions from junior Trotman Smith and gifted Johnny Lucas on a nightly basis. The majority of the scoring comes from senior captain Cam Collins (11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points), sophomore attackman Matthew Bettencourt (18-4-22) and junior attack Nick Salvati (19-4-23). Another attackman, senior Tyler Kalloo, has 10 goals of his own.

Junior Jack Russo (37-16-53) is the top marksman up front for Swampscott, while senior captain Zack Pierce (19 goals) and junior Jason Codispoti (21) are among those who have regularly found themselves on the scoresheet. Freshman middie/attach Liam Keaney (9-11-20) has also adjusted quite nicely to varsity play. Sophomore Harrison Kinne has been a difference maker on defense along with captain Michael Erickson and football lineman-turned-defensive wall Joey Mignone, with goaltender Aidan Breault not only making the stops he needs to make, but also contributing offensively with seven goals and a pair assists.

Both teams hope to extend their winning streaks Thursday afternoon at home, with Peabody hosting Masconomet and Swampscott taking on visiting Danvers.

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Lax Lowdown, a column on North Shore high school boys lacrosse, appears each Thursday during the spring sports season. Contact Phil Stacey at pstacey@salemnews.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilStacey_SN

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN