A tough Bedford High Bulldogs a 6-0 lead, the Londonderry High School boys’ lacrosse squad showed lots of fight and a significant amount of skill before finally dropping a 14-9 decision to its guest in the Lancers’ 2016 season and home-opener this past Monday, April 11.
The Bulldogs potted two unanswered goals in the first quarter and then four more during the first 5:12 of the second period to collect a 6-0 lead.
However, second-year coach Sean LeBlanc’s Lancers picked themselves up off their soggy field and netted the final two goals of the second stanza during its last 4:15, thus heading to halftime down 6-2 with a bit of momentum and some reasons to whoop it up after trimming back the six-goal deficit.
Lancer veteran standout Dave Wiedenfeld, who tallied five total points in the contest on two goals and three assists, set up teammate Max Hastings on the first LHS tally, and Wiedenfeld netted the second goal himself unassisted.
The locals cut their deficit back to three goals just 17 seconds into the second half when Sean Snyder was set up by Hastings, who finished the match with two goals and two helpers for four points.
But Bedford then bagged three consecutive goals over a span of just 2:41 to drive its lead back up to six tallies at 9-3.
The Lancers responded with back to back tallies from Casey Park (assist to Wiedenfeld) with 5:08 left in the third period and Merrill Neiman (assist to Pete Navarro) less than a minute later to make it a 9-5 game, but the Bulldogs had the last word to make it a 10-5 game before the end of that stanza.
Each side scored four goals in the fourth quarter, with Londonderry standing closest to its opponents at 12-8 with 4:20 left in the contest.
Along with the five points from Wiedenfeld and four from Hastings, the Lancers received three points from Park (two goals, one assist), a goal and a helper from Navarro, and single markers from Snyder and Neiman.
Londonderry goalie Alex Fawcett came up big a number of times in working to keep his team in the match, and he finished the contest with 10 saves.
 Lancer lacrosse stalwart Merrill Neiman sprints past a Bedford player during the LHS squad’s season-opening loss. Neiman was one of six goal scorers for Londonderry. Photos by Chris Pantazis
LHS standout Dave Wiedenfeld manages to maintain control of the ball despite falling to the ground during his team’s season-opening match with Bedford. Wiedenfeld tallied five points for the locals.