It only took one season of varsity lacrosse for Will Pesce’s Magruder teammates and coaches to recognize his leadership capabilities.
The Colonels voted the senior captain into that role prior to his sophomore year. A team usually only entrusts captaincy in such a young player when they know they won’t disappoint.
Pesce, committed to play lacrosse at Howard Community College, is this week’s Montgomery County High School Athlete of the Week.
Each week throughout the school year, the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame partners with Montgomery Community Media to honor an Athlete of the Week from the county’s more than 40 public and private high schools.
Central Division Co-Player of the Week- William Pesce, Attack, @MagruderLax. In one game last week vs Blake, Will had 5 Points (4G/1A), 3Gb, and 1 Ft! pic.twitter.com/Gk8HWfIlwO
— MoCo MD Lacrosse (@MocoMDBoysLacro) May 13, 2022
Magruder clinched the top seed in the Class 3A West II Division ahead of the upcoming playoffs.
“The heart that the team has, the grit that they show – I think it really comes from [Pesce],” head coach Gregory Lyons told MCM. “I can’t tell you the number of times he’s gone down where I’ve thought he’s torn something, broken something, and then boom, he pops right back up.”
In each of the last three seasons, Pesce averaged a little over four points (goals plus assists) per game. Magruder lost in the regional tournament in the latter two, reaching the final last year.
In eight games in 2024, Pesce has shifted into another gear, recording a staggering seven points per.
The attacker notched back-to-back career single-game point highs to open the season, scoring 11 in the opener against Gaithersburg Mar. 22. His 12 points in the next contest against Rockville are the most any Colonel has ever scored in a game.
“He’s one of the most talented shooters I’ve ever seen in terms of just the way that he delivers a ball from every which angle,” Lyons said. “The team overall has just taken on some of his identity.”
Magruder defeated rivals Wootton and Quince Orchard in their two most recent games, teams they most recently won against in 2003. That just so happened to be Coach Lyons’s senior year.
These wins came at a combined margin of victory of three goals. The 5-4 win over Quince Orchard marked the Colonels’ third one-goal win this season.
“Every team we have left is tough, they’re all going to be tough games,” Lyons said. “Over the games we’ve played, we’ve just gotten this mantra that ‘We win close games.'”
Featured image by Kenneth Storck via Magruder Lacrosse on X.
