My 1st Time Watching Lacrosse

I sat down on the cold bleachers for the first time this spring, if you can even call it that yet, wrapped in blankets and hoping my first time watching lacrosse would be easy to understand, move quickly, and would be entertaining. At least it was entertaining.

Going into this game only knowing that lacrosse involved sticks, I was not prepared for the mash up of multiple different sports that it ended up being. With a penalty box like hockey, clock stopping like football, constant ball movement like soccer, but with a stick and a lot of body checking, I got a lot more than I planned for by going to lacrosse. But it was definitely fun to watch.

Entertaining is seriously the best word I can think of to describe lacrosse. The physicality of the defensive play, the quickness of the offense, and the crazy trick shots kept me watching throughout the entire game. Of course, it was made even more entertaining by the 3-man heckle squad made up of seniors Riley Quinton, Aleks Hansen, and Ben Harasek.

I was completely blown away by the performances of seniors Bennett Duffy and Joseph Doyle; the pair were the sole scorers in the Wildcat victory. Duffy scored 5 goals and Doyle netted the other 3, ending the game 8-5 over Bellingham. Other amazing performances, particularly defensively, were put on by seniors Will Doud and Hayden Smith. I’d also like to shout out freshman Cece Vaughn; that girl is awesome for playing on a guys team and still rocking it.

Check the AMHS calendar and come out to watch the Wildcat Lacrosse team play before the season is over!

Player Profile: Bennett Duffy

In 6th grade, AMHS senior Will Doud brought his lacrosse gear with him to school and asked classmate Bennett Duffy if he was interested in playing. Previously only playing basketball and soccer, Duffy then began to transition to the sport that would later become his passion. This season, as seniors on the AMHS lacrosse team, Duffy and Doud are shoe-ins to be co-captains, hoping to lead the mere 3 year old team to the state tournament.

Technically only a club at Archbishop Murphy due to the Title IX rule,  Duffy says it’s sometimes difficult because the lacrosse team isn’t always viewed in the same light as other sports. However, this is the least of the challenges Duffy has faced in his lacrosse career. “The head coach for Jackson High School, Coach Hess, once told me I wasn’t good enough to play on the top line,” he said. This moment of criticism prompted Duffy to work harder and has helped him to become the player he is today.

His favorite memory of his high school lacrosse career is beating Friday Harbor his sophomore year, the first win in the program’s history.

Duffy has committed to play at Notre Dame de Namur University in the fall of this year. There he looks forward to competing at a national, collegiate level. Along with the competition, he hopes he’ll have the opportunity to play on national television.

Although I’ve yet to go to an AMHS lacrosse game, or any lacrosse game, I look forward to seeing Duffy take the field with Doud and his other teammates in the coming weeks.