The next generation of lacrosse stars just wrapped up another undefeated season at Bement School.
For the second straight year, the girls’ lacrosse team capped off a perfect season earlier this week with a 13-9 win over Amherst Middle School. Bement finished 11-0, also winning the Pine Cobble Tournament in Williamstown.
Second-year head coach Anthony Kandel has guided the team, made up of sixth- through ninth-graders, to 21 straight regular-season victories.
“Last year they approached me about coaching because the team didn’t have one,” explained Kandel. “I jumped in with literally no expectations. I saw the schedule and we were playing JV teams, including Deerfield Academy’s. I had no idea how the season was going to go.”
Bement didn’t lose a game, and entered this year with the bulk of its lineup returning. That proved to be a dynamic combination, as the Phoenix again posted a perfect mark.
The team was paced by several local stars, though there was a good chunk of the roster either new or relatively new to the sport.
“Four or five of our starters this year had never played before in their lives,” offered Kandel. “The team has grown so much.”
Kandel’s daughter, seventh-grader Allie from Greenfield, led the team with a whopping 103 goals this spring. Lacrosse is certainly in her blood, as her mother Annie, the athletic director and girls’ lacrosse coach at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, was an All-American at Lehigh University. But Allie was quick to deflect praise toward her teammates.
“We have a lot of team effort here. It’s not just one person,” she explained. “A lot of middle-school teams, someone picks the ball up and just goes the length of the field with it. But we make sure to work it around, pass to each other.”
Eighth-grader Cammy Howe of Deerfield said that the team’s success on the field comes in large part due to the players’ affinity for each other off it.
“We all have a really strong connection and we’re all friends outside of games and practices,” said Howe, who first tried lacrosse in third grade but didn’t like it before deciding to join the Bement team “It’s our own little lacrosse family here. We all really enjoy each other.”
The team’s unselfish play is showcased in the statistics from the season. Of the squad’s 188 goals, 50-percent were assisted.
“Our top two scorers also had the most assists this season,” Coach Kandel explained. “The girls definitely do look for each other out there.”
Greenfield’s Ryan Blanchard, a sixth-grade team member, said she took to lacrosse in large part because her mother is from Maryland, a hot-spot for the sport.
“We all work really well together,” Blanchard lauded.
In addition to Allie Kandel, Northampton’s Kate Loughlin, an eighth-grader, was a top offensive force for Bement this spring.
“This year I expected us to be great,” offered Loughlin, who joined the team as a fifth-grader. “After last year’s season, I knew we had a lot of great players coming back.”
Loughlin, normally a midfielder, stepped in as goalie for one particularly important game this spring against Deerfield Academy’s ‘thirds.’ It wound up being the closest contest the Phoenix played all year, as they held on for an 8-7 victory on May 16.
“We only won by one goal and usually we weren’t put under that type of pressure from teams,” Loughlin explained. “Myself, being in goal, that was a lot of pressure. But it was one of the most memorable moments from the season.”
Howe’s sister plays at DA, so the chance to compete head-to-head put bragging rights on the line.
“To play against her and to beat her, that was a fun game for sure,” she recalled with a laugh.
After back-to-back undefeated seasons, what’s on deck for an encore next spring?
“We’re only losing three kids. So, if all goes according to plan, we should be strong again next year,” said Coach Kandel.
Indeed.