RAIDER TRACK & FIELD squad, if the weather cooperates, heads to Thornton Academy in Saco today, and travels to Kennett on Tuesday (4 p.m.). Pictured are: (laying down) Coach Kevin McDonald and Alfie Walker; (second row) Kate Flynn, Jules Stanton, Abby Novia, Livia DeVries, Shelby Plekie, Sam Rivers, Irina Norkin, Jessica Jensen and Jenn L’Hommedieu; (third row) Maddy Choice, Alanceiah Waiters, Sharlah-Mae Day, Osage Crie, Max Kummer, Olivia Krug, Aaron Hennessy, Jacques Dupuis and Coach Johnson; (fourth row) Coach Cummings, Jessica Frum, David Marshall, Luke Sekara-Flanders, Elijah Howe and Ethan Reimbach. Absent from the photo were; Gwen Boros, Seth Ferguson, Kyra French, Casey Kneissler, Isaiah Lenotte, James Littlefield, Jayden Ming, Kyleigh Rose and Antonin Santarelli. “A great group of kids and a very young team,” Coach McDonald noted. (Photo by Julian Zhu/FA)

RAIDER BOYS’ LACROSSE

Fryeburg Academy traveled to Freeport last Thursday for the season varsity boys’ lacrosse opener, and walked away with a 12-6 victory! Caleb Eklund takes credit for the first goal of the year off a pass from Liam Chisari. Caleb Bowles got the next two, first after a faceoff win to himself and second off a feed from Gunnar Gurnis. Gurnis would be next in the scoring column after taking a long clearing pass from defenseman Cole LeBlond. Evan Caracciolo got hit first goal off a feed from Gunnar Gurnis. Caleb Bowles netted his third of the game after scooping up a ground ball and firing it in for the score. Gurnis would score the next two, first off a feed from Evan Caracciolo and then unassisted off a turnover. Caleb Eklund scored his second of the night off a pass from Gurnis. Gurnis then assisted on another goal for Evan Caracciolo. Jared Chisari made a great shot off a feed from his brother Liam Chisari. And, finally, Gunnar Gurnis scored his fourth goal off a clearing pass from Ben Fraize.

“Our defense played extremely well. We had a couple of communication breakdowns that cost us. Other than that, they did a great job of shutting down the Freeport offense. Brevin Mutrie, Ben Fraize and Cole LeBlond played one of the best games I’ve seen them play,” FA Coach Matt Haley said. “Gavin LaChance and Liam Harriman both played very well too. Yukon King had an awesome game, as well. He was seeing the ball well and made over a dozen great saves.”

Coach Haley added, “It’s great to see the guys come out and play so well considering a large number of them have been under the weather lately. They did a wonderful job. We have some stuff to work on, but overall, I’m very impressed by how we played.”

Up next: The Raiders are scheduled to travel to Lawrence today (April 19) for an 11 a.m. contest, and then go to Gray-New Gloucester on Tuesday for a 4:30 p.m. game.

PREVIEW: ULTIMATE

Raider girls

Coach: Adam Armington

The Roster: Seniors Huong Rosa Ngo, Nhi Ashley Nguyen, Sun Mi Park, Elise Richardson; juniors Nicole DiPaulo, Can Ghadfa, Linh Laura Le, Mae Milo, Erin Richardson; sophomores Victoria Hayes, Silvia Sanchez, Abby Vaughn; freshmen Ella Baptista, Luna Barrionuevo, Grace Mooney, Lindsay Smith.

Outlook: “Everyone gets excited when winter comes to an end and spring slowly starts to appear. Then there are the athletes who understand that spring means sports! The excitement and enthusiasm I have seen from the Girls’ Ultimate Frisbee Team has been remarkable. They come into practice with the energetic spark that we can all remember having at that age,” Coach Armington said. “The returners (Elise Richardson, Mae Miloe, Erin Richardson, Rose Ngo, Nicole DePaolo and Silvia Sanchez) have been the driving force behind the incredible energy that the girls have been producing, which Ultimate Frisbee is based upon. We are excited to have a large group of new players that have already showed a remarkable improvement from just starting under three weeks ago. When you look at the team as a whole, I see potential that every coach dreams of. We all know that this will be a journey that is exciting and tough, but that is how friends are made and dreams are achieved!”

Raider boys

Head Coach: Gregg Downing

JV Coach: Aaron Duphily

The Roster: Seniors Adam Canfield, Yung-Shang Sean Chen, Jacob Cook, Zherui Ricky Huang, Sam Darling, Yu-Ruei Ray Huang, Hieu Jacob Le, Junting Edison Liu, Mac Macken, Addison Schwarz, Clayton Thurston, Hoatian Chris Wang; juniors Manny Baptista, Hsu-Ting Conor, Gaige Daigle, Nick Kenerson, Orion Lovering, Ziyang Zach Zhang; sophomores Matt Gunther, Kyle Mercier; freshmen Satrant Bains, Donny Calderwood, Daniel Koo, Trent LeBroke, Will Marshall, Aidean McLaughlin, Jordan O’Keefe, James Pullen, Luke Reinbach, Simon St. Pierre, Christian Thorney and Nico Zakon.

Outlook: “Spring is always a fun time, the snow is melting, grass is starting to show, warm weather and high school Ultimate Frisbee is starting. What an honor its been to come back for my second year as head coach and third year with the team. Having Coach Armington back for the girls and a new JV coach Aaron Duphily has been great for our teams’ development. We have some great athletes returning to us — Addison Schwarz, Sam Darling and Manny Baptista — who will be doing a bulk of the handling for our team. They will be looking for our athletic receiver Adam Canfield,” Coach Downing said. “We have a lot of newcomers coming up from JV or new to the sport with a lot of seniors graduating last year. We are looking for a lot of players to step up and show us their best. Some new varsity players I would like to highlight are seniors Jacob Cook, Clayton Thurston, McKenzie Mackin; juniors Nicholas Kenerson, Gaige Daigel, Connor Chang; and sophomore Kyle Mercier. All great, hard-working players with positive upside this year. Our team strengths, we have a lot of coachable athletes. I believe we will be one of the more athletic teams in the league. With strong, fast athletes, our strength will be our man defense and forcing a turnover and scoring fast. For us to be successful will be fine tuning our defensive sets, our throwing and just knowledge of the game in different weather conditions. Which goes into what I truly like about the group is they are fun and light hearted yet like to get to grind out and work really hard. I think this year will be a year filled with fun spirits, great triumphs and everyone’s best. The goals will be met with progress being achieved every day.”