If you look around the sports team at HHS, you will see many of them play very similar schedules. They are mandated to play other Patriot League teams (Keenan Divison once, Fisher Divison twice) and a handful of selected non-conference games. Almost all the teams stay pragmatic and schedule Norwell, Rockland, Abington and one more relatively local team. Not the boy’s Lacrosse program. Partially because Lacrosse on the South Shore is still growing and Hanover is ahead of the curve, and partially to be challenged, Boy’s Lax has arguably played the most difficult schedule of any HHS athletic team the past two years. Already in a league with two teams perennially in the state’s top 15 (Hingham and Duxbury ), the boys load it up in non-conference too. Last year the program faced Mansfield, Milton, Acton-Boxborough, and Cohassett out of league. Three of those teams are classified as Division 1 by the MIAA while Cohasset has been a powerhouse the past five years. The schedule resulted in an excellent season in which they dabbled in and out of power rankings and eventually fell to a great Dover-Sherborn in a thriller of a game.

This season has held a similar tough schedule in which they face Division 1 teams Weymouth, Falmouth,  and Sandwich, along with D3 stalwarts Cohasset and Norwell. The boys have jumped out to a 8-2 start while overwhelming teams with their talent and performing well offensively and defensively. As of Thursday, they were #6 in the Boston Globe South Rankings and named to the ESPN Boston High Schools’ top 25. Their two losses came at the hands of reigning D3 State Champ Cohasset (#13 ESPN Boston) and a talented Hingham group (#10 ESPN Boston). Both games were tightly contested and were lost by a 2-goal margin. Their record has put them second overall in the Patriot League, behind only Duxbury.

The remainder of the schedule will continue to challenge the team as they will take on a good Scituate team as well as a solid Silver Lake squad, both winnable yet challenging games. Hanover will also have to face state #1 Duxbury, as well as Scituate and Cohasset again. If the past is any indication, they boys will still make it though with an outstanding record and high playoff seed.