Written by Seth Stutman
Photos by Ivy Pohl

Sponsored by East Village Place

Published in Longmeadow Neighbors (August 2024)

2024 SEASON RECAP

LONGMEADOW LAX: THE 2024 DII CHAMPIONS

In what was a nail-biter, the Longmeadow Lancers came out on top after a long season, capturing the state championship after defeating Marshfield 11-10 in triple overtime to capture the 2024 D-II State Championship.

Longmeadow came into the finals with a record of 21-2, yet Marshfield took them to a scintillating third overtime. After two near-misses careened off the posts, Brendan Harty shook a defender on the left wing and ripped a shot just over the shoulder of Marshfield’s goalie.

"All year long we're going through conditioning (drills) so when it came down to a third overtime we knew everyone was fresh," Harty said. "I had to take advantage of that. I hit the (defender) with a swim move and I hit it top left," he said.

“I trusted my teammates and I knew we were not going to lose because we’ve been in big moments like that before.”

It was team play that got the Lancers to their 21st state crown and their 39th appearance in a title game (both state records for boys lacrosse). In the overtime Nicholas DeAngelis-Gray won all three of the opening faceoffs, Morin had a five-point game, and Josh Ciaglo, Colin Mulderig, Ben McHugh, and Myles Chapman also scored for Longmeadow.

After graduating 17 members from the 2023 squad, the constantly replenishing Lancers won their second title in the era of Coach Keith Campbell and look to repeat this spring.

ABOUT COACH CAMPBELL:

Keith Campbell is as close as you can get to a household lacrosse name in Longmeadow. Keith began watching the Lancers since their inception in 1973, and graduated from LHS in 1982. Keith was a member of the 1981 undefeated LHS state championship team. From there his lacrosse career continued, first as a player at UMass and then as a coach around the state.

Before becoming the head coach at his alma mater in 2015, Campbell was the Offensive Coordinator of the professional indoor Boston Rockhoppers and Defensive Coach at East Longmeadow High School. He has also enjoyed being a member of Team USA (Masters Division) at the world games in Perth Australia.

Since taking over the Lancers, Campbell has always led winning squads, and has captured two state titles (2022, 2024). Keith currently lives in Longmeadow with his daughter, Kathryn and son, Kristopher.

COACHES corner:

"The culture which was built by the past players and captains in 2021, 2022, and 2023 was a great roadmap for the 2024 team. The opportunity we had this year to go independent also built a foundation that helped with game preparation and film review and allowed our team to follow our mantra: "play the game not the name." - Keith Campbell

QUOTES FROM PLAYERS AND PARENTS:

Sophomore Max Zichitella 

“Nobody thought our team would make it to where we did. With losing 15 seniors, who in their time played in two state championships and winning in 2022, the rest of the state thought Longmeadow would be down this year.

When the season hit, our team was very young. We didn’t have good chemistry or understand the team well. As we proceeded through our season, we worked super hard in practices and in the film room to keep getting better. We had multiple underclassmen step up in very important roles that helped our team with its success. Our statement game was when we played Medfield and beat them by one. I think that’s the game that showed the rest of the state who we really are and where we stood. 

When playoffs hit we were all focused on getting our rings. Each game in the playoffs our team clicked, and all of a sudden everything was going right. In the semi-finals we ended up beating the #2 seed Hingham by seven. Going into the championship game, we all knew that we didn’t come this far to lose. The game was not like the other playoff games in terms of our team performance, but due to individual efforts from Finley Morin and Brendan Harty, they put the rest of the team on their backs and brought us to our ultimate goal.”

Senior Captain Finley Morin

“This season our team was not expected to be as successful as we were. We graduated 17 seniors, many of whom were vital pieces to our team. But nobody in our room cared about what others had to say and we had our minds on one goal. The young guys filled roles and stepped up huge. 

“I think me and the rest of the captains were great leaders and our team showed resilience and never wavered when things got tough. We all trained hard this offseason, got better every day and created chemistry that would help us down the line. The season was a success as we won our 21st state championship as a program. Hopefully 22 is on its way.”

Senior captain Brendan Harty

“Our state championship is a culmination of all of us coming together as a team. Our team chemistry was such that it made failure non-existent. We all had each other’s backs. Scoring the winning goal was exciting, but the team gave me that opportunity and I’m just glad I came through.”

1979 LHS State Champion, Rusty Bran

“Keith Campbell and the Lancer Lax Bros have reestablished themselves as perennial championship contenders by scheduling the toughest competition possible -- just like the program's founders did from the outset.”

Longmeadow Lacrosse parent, Amy O'Connor

“The team obviously had to work extra hard because of the large number of seniors they lost from last year. They were extremely fortunate to have a handful of super talented underclassmen, particularly ninth and 10th graders. They did all the typical stuff, hard-core practices and a lot of strength and conditioning. Watching a lot of film (Kyle would come home saying “we have the answers to the test” after they watched film on teams they were about to play, I think Coach Campbell coined that phrase). Everyone was expected to practice in the off-season, whether at the winter practice sessions at “the bubble” in East Windsor or at “the wall” at the fields across from the high school. I think the bottom line is that the boys were hungry for it after winning it two years ago and then losing in the quarterfinal last spring. Everyone knows that Longmeadow is known for lacrosse and the boys want to bring home the trophy for the whole community as well as the team!”

Junior, Myles Chapman
“I think this season, we were the most determined team in the state. We worked hard in all aspects of the game. Every day in practice and the Dag Bag workouts ( LHS’s Coach Dagostino runs a strength and conditioning hour before practice) to get stronger, faster and better at all aspects of lacrosse in order to achieve our final goal. No matter what happened everyone always had their brothers backs. We became a family out there this year. Our coaches believed in all of us and we believed in each other. The result being Longmeadow’s  21st state championship win!”

Co-Captain, 1974 Undefeated Massachusetts Lacrosse State Champions, Dick Jones.
“Playing Longmeadow Lacrosse got me into an Ivy League college (Brown University) where I started as a freshman…and I could never have gotten into an Ivy League School if I didn’t play lacrosse.”
“Keith Campbell has brought the Longmeadow Lancers LAX team back to life. He is a great coach and the players he coaches are so competitive, it was the reason why they came from behind to tie the game and then win it.”

Longmeadow Lacrosse: A History

While the sport of lacrosse is centuries old, it has been played competitively in Longmeadow only since the 1970’s.  The old tale goes that in 1969, LHS science teacher Bill McCullough (who also coached ice hockey) brought UMass Men’s Lacrosse coach Dick Garber to show students a film of what he described as “the fastest game of two feet.”

Coach Garber showed a film of a North-South college lacrosse game from the spring of 1968. Garber was coaching the North team full of some of the nation’s top players. LHS students took to the video and the rest was history.  

In the first year, the club existed with cheap wooden sticks with catgut pockets, loaner helmets from UMass and hockey gloves.  In 1970 lacrosse became a varsity sport, and math teacher Dave Stockwell assisted Coach McCullough. In their first organized year, LHS won the first-of-its-kind state championship game against Winchester, 7-4. 

In the 70’s and 80’s, Longmeadow Lacrosse won 14 of the 21 State Championships and dominated Massachusetts high school lacrosse.  Things have changed since the 70’s and 80’s and Massachusetts lacrosse is considerably more competitive.  Despite that, in the last three decades, Longmeadow has won seven state championships.  21 state championships is the most of ANY high school in the United State by about 5.

Since their first championship, Longmeadow lacrosse has been on one of the most consistent streaks in high school sports. The streak of dominance continues well into the 21st century. High school sports website MaxPreps states that since the 2006/2007 season, the Lancers have a combined record of 315 - 81.