Bangor Rams Play First-Ever Varsity Lacrosse Game

The Bangor High School boys lacrosse team played its first-ever varsity game Saturday against Lewiston at Husson University.

Bangor this season joins a growing list of Maine high schools competing in both girls and boys varsity lacrosse.

John Bapst Memorial High School also added a boys varsity team this year, and a boys varsity team representing both Nokomis Regional High School in Newport and Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield made its debut last spring.

With the addition of lacrosse teams at John Bapst and Bangor, there are now 46 varsity boys teams and 46 varsity girls teams throughout the state.

The Bangor boys lost 15-2 in their inaugural game at Boucher Field, falling to the more experienced Lewiston High School team.

Bangor junior Nason Vassiliev scored the program's first goal with 1:19 remaining in the first half. He added a second score with three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

"We came into it with the right attitude," Junior goalie Patrick MacDonald said after the game. "I think by the time, maybe even later this season, we'll have what we need to be able to compete with a top team like Lewiston.

Being a first-year program trying to catch up with the rest of the field can come with ups and downs, but MacDonald thinks the team will make progress each day.

"There's certainly a lot of improvement that can happen. We just have so much chemistry between each other. It's just a matter of executing what we need to get done."

Many boys and girls players in the Bangor area had been competing in lacrosse for years at the club level through Eastern Maine Youth Lacrosse, a program sponsored by the Bangor Parks and Recreation Department.

"Since it's been club for so long a lot of us know each other, and even the freshman that have just come in. We've been communicating with them. We come out here and play in the summer and fall beforehand so there's a lot of chemistry with our team."

Even though the Rams lost their first-ever varsity game on Saturday, MacDonald said he was "stoked" and his teammates were "really excited" to finally have the opportunity to play a varsity lacrosse game for Bangor High School.