‘Crusader Way’ Raising Cape Tech Boys Lacrosse To New Level

PLEASANT LAKE – All the Cape Cod Tech boys lacrosse team has to do to discern the kind of level their program has reached is turn toward their opponents.

The looks of the players and coaches they’re facing, what they’re saying, their emotions — it’s all different from what the Crusaders used to see. But that’s exactly what happens when a team transitions from, as senior Talon Joia put it, building to built-up.

“We've never played like this at this caliber, so it feels good to see the shock on teams’ faces after we play them or potentially beat them,” Joia said. 

The Crusaders, at 4-3 (as of The Chronicle’s deadline), have already eclipsed last season’s win total. Their four wins also match their total across the previous three seasons. What’s more, they’re above .500 for the first time in four years. 

It all came together slowly, and yet also faster than the team could have even hoped, according to head coach Gibson St. John. Kids put in the work over the summer, and the team graduated only one senior, a boon for continuing momentum from the previous year. Sophomores who played on varsity last year have stepped up. The passing and catching has improved, and the offense is flowing. They’ve boosted their time of possession, flipping from a group that spent nearly entire games on their heels defending to one controlling the ball at least 50 percent of the time.

“It's looking a lot more like how lacrosse should, which is all I've wanted to see with this program,” St. John said.

Cape Tech’s attention-catching start is a harbinger of a philosophy finally coming to fruition, one left to St. John by previous head coach Brent Warren a few years ago: the “Crusader Way.” Sportsmanship, above all, headlines the Crusader Way, according to St. John, and everything else falls into place after it. That takes time.

Players started to see the potential of the team last season. They bought in. They won two games in a row at one point and tripled their win total from the two years before. They got others to buy in.

“Sportsmanship still stays high, but everything else is creeping up right below it, like work ethic, determination, bringing it all four quarters,” St. John said.

An example of how that philosophy is manifesting and having a real impact: the Crusaders rotate captains. If someone stands out at practice all week, they’ll serve as a captain for a game. Some guys make recurring appearances, but younger players are thrown into the mix too.

“It's important that they not just feel that leadership role but also try and embrace it and improve in some of those qualities that make others leaders, and that'll help them, not just in lacrosse but life too,” St. John said.

And likely because of that Crusader Way mindset and the rotating captains and the buy-in, the program’s culture is as good as a senior leader like Joia can ever remember. Players go to their coach’s office to talk drills. Focus is up.

From St. John’s perspective, hustle and physicality have risen as well. There’s the coachable aspects of the game, then there’s the uncoachable, and they’ve seen an improvement in the latter also.

“This year, we see that we have potential,” Joia said. “We see we're winning games. We see we're good at practice, so everyone's kind of upping the ante at how much they look forward to lacrosse, and they actually show more effort, show more passion.”

The Crusaders began the year 2-2, their wins coming against two schools they had lost to twice each last season. That presented Cape Tech with their first opportunity to go above .500 for the first time since 2022, when they started 2-1. They took advantage of the chance convincingly, defeating Westport 18-1 on April 8. On Monday, the Crusaders picked up a win against another team, Old Colony, who only a year prior had bested them twice with two shutouts.

On an individual level, Joia is the team’s leading scorer. Senior goalie Jack Botelho has been a huge part of the success and mentors freshman goalie Michael Ginnetty. Defensemen sophomore Liam Graham and seniors Porter Anderson and Alex Malone have contributed both on the field and the sideline.

“I think we are heading in a direction that makes the coaches, the players and the school not just proud but hopeful for where the program will go,” St. John said.