The Waltham High boys lacrosse team's 16-7 loss at Arlington stands as one of the Hawks' worst defeats of the season.
It could wind up being the best thing that ever happened to them.
``They crushed us the first time we played them,'' said Waltham coach Steve Duffy. ``They beat us by nine goals and it felt worse than that. We came out of that game feeling that we were capable of playing better. That was the game that turned our season around.''
The Hawks have been on a roll since and continued that roll with a 16-11 victory over the Ponders in the rematch on Friday that pulled them into a tie for first place in the Greater Boston League.
Waltham was up 3-1 after a quarter, 7-3 at the half, 9-6 after three and led 16-8 in the fourth before settling into the final score.
``We really poured it on,'' Duffy said. ``We were playing hard and really controlled all areas of the field. We had a lot of breakdowns defensively against them the first time and we corrected it this time.''
Senior Evan Mula had five goals and three assists, sophomore Ryan Pratt had four goals and three assists, junior D.J. Nurse had two goals and an assist, seniors Tim Doolin and Mark Benoit each had a goal and assist and senior Mike Kennan, junior Chuck Pepper and sophomore Chris Annunciata each had a goal.
Duffy had particular praise for Benoit and senior Bobby Nadolny, who moved up to the midfield as longsticks with Benoit contributing to the scoring and Nadolny controlling draws.
Waltham (9-5) can clinch a spot in the state tournament with a victory tomorrow at home against Newton South.
Girls Track
Zottola 3rd at Coaches
Sophomore Sabrina Zottola set a personal record of 37 feet, 1 inches that was good for third at the State Coaches Invitational held Saturday at Somerville High.
She is the third Waltham girl to top 37 feet in recent years - joining 2004 Outdoor Track Runner of the Year Andrea Jacobs and 2007 New Englands qualifier Jasmin Washington.
Freshman Ivy Watts was seventh Saturday in the 400 in 60.57 seconds, while freshman Erika Shay was 10th in the 300 hurdles in 49.92.
The Waltham 4x400 team was 15th in 4:23.8 behind Shay (63.9 split), Watts (65.8), freshman Katherine Sexton (68.6) and Zottola (65.1).
Waltham (5-0) can wrap up an undefeated dual meet season in the GBL with a victory over Medford tomorrow.
