Worcester Boys Claim ESIAC Title

BERLIN-
Worcester Prep's boys' varsity lacrosse team capped off a remarkable season
last Friday with a 16-5 win over Gunston in the Eastern Shore Independent
Athletic Conference (ESIAC) tournament championship game.

The
Mallards cruised past Delmarva Christian, 14-1, last Wednesday to reach the
tournament final again, while Gunston took out Salisbury School to punch its
ticket to the championship game. Playing at home in front of big crowd,
Worcester scored first on a goal by Ryan McGuire just 44 seconds into the game
to make it 1-0. About 25 seconds later, the Mallards' Brad Regan scored
Worcester's second goal in just over a minute for a 2-0 lead and there was no
looking back.

After
that initial flurry, the game settled down for much of the first quarter until
the Mallards scored four goals in the final three minutes of the period to
extend the lead to 7-0. Worcester continued to pour it on in the second
quarter, extending its lead to 12-0 by halftime.

With
the outcome pretty much no longer in question, Worcester Coach Kevin Gates
cleared his bench for much of the second half, allowing his underclassmen to
gain valuable playing time in the championship game. Gunston took advantage of
the situation somewhat by outscoring the Mallards, 5-4, in the second half.

Worcester's
record now stands at 14-1 record this season, their only loss coming to South
River in Anne Arundel County back on April 10 in that school's invitational
tournament. Typically, the ESIAC tournament is the season finale, but the
Mallards had one piece of unfinished business this week. Worcester traveled to
Wesley College in Delaware yesterday for a final game against Salesianum in a
game played too late to be included in this edition.