Lax celebrates 30th

The first-ever Conval boys' lacrosse team in 1995.

This season marks the 30th anniversary of lacrosse at Conval, High with the boys beginning as a club in 1995, while the girls began the following year as a club with Dublin School. From the beginning, both teams saw huge numbers. The Peterborough Transcript noted that there were nearly 30 boys on the first squad, pictured here.

Not sure where this was exactly, but the Transcript reported that “first practice [was] in the middle of a hay field on the far corner of the school campus,” where balls were consistently lost in the tall grass. Of all the guys on that first team, only sophomore Nolan Fredericks (who would go on to play at Plymouth State), had any experience playing lacrosse. “It was a real scene when our first practice started,” said coach Ned Ide. “Some of our first drills were talk drills, where we just stood and practiced calling out signals.”

The boys started slowly but defeated Milford in its first-ever home game, and closed the season with back-to-back wins over Milford and Oyster River. “Once they figured out where they had to be on the field, they were able to use their athleticism,” Ide said. And quickly, Conval improved as the season progressed. Scoring fewer than five goals per game early in the going, the Cougars scored 28 in their last two wins.

“These kids are good people and they have lots of enthusiasm that will make the program strong,” said Coach Ide.

Thirty years later, it’s still true.