The crowd at the Madison High School field on Tuesday, May 26 was larger than any the Stuyvesant boys’ lacrosse team had ever witnessed. The Stuyvesant fans rose to their feet in the third quarter, with the Peglegs leading by three goals. But the lead did not last for long, as the Madison Knights battled back to tie the game and force a sudden death overtime period, where the Knights struck first and won the game 8-7.

Despite the loss, the Peglegs found their season to be a success. In only their second year in the Public Schools Athletic League, they made the playoffs as the fourth seed, and were one goal away from upsetting the number one seed, Madison, at their home field. “We changed a lot from our first season, we all got better at the basics, and we did pretty well for such an inexperienced team,” senior Aaron Donato said.

Even the Madison players were surprised at how far the Peglegs had come. “After the game, those guys [Madison] came up to me and said good game, that was the hardest game we ever played,” senior and co-captain Chris Zhao said. “That really stood out to me because those guys have been playing in this league a lot longer than we have.”

Even though the Peglegs gave Madison a tough game, Zhao felt they could have played even better. With a three goal lead in the third quarter, the team feels they should have kept the lead. “I think one of the things that really hurt us is we don’t have enough depth. Our first line guys were definitely a little tired and things fell apart a bit,” Zhao said. The exhausted legs of the Stuyvesant players hurt in the end, as Madison was able to score first in sudden death, about one minute and 30 seconds in. “At first we were all upset, but I think we realized that we played our hearts out,” Donato said.

The Peglegs had a slow start to the season, losing three of their first four games. One of these included a blowout loss to Madison 14-2 on Saturday, March 28. The Peglegs made a turnaround after that loss, as they won 3 of their next five games. Their one goal loss to Madison in the first round of the playoffs only further proved their improvement. “Taking a step back, last year we were a bunch of kids who had never picked up lacrosse sticks in their [our] lives,” Zhao said. “Fast forward one year and three months, we’re in the playoffs with the best team in the league, bringing them to overtime, but just falling short of making it to the championship.”

Although their season came to an abrupt end, Zhao and the Peglegs battled the whole year to achieve a .500 record and their first playoff berth. “To give them [Madison] the hardest game they ever played can definitely be looked at as an accomplishment,” Zhao said.