Ledyard Lacrosse Has It Made With Slade

Slade Baxley is not the type of lacrosse goalkeeper who camps out in front of the net and lets the action come to him.

The Ledyard High junior is an athlete who plays goalie, using the skills which allowed him to be a valuable all-around football performer as a receiver, corner back and punter and a winner of a recent football strength and conditioning contest obstacle course competition.

Baxley's aggressive, daring style served as one of the keys to Ledyard lacrosse's undefeated regular season, first conference championship and Class S semifinal berth last year. It also raised coach Brian Martin's blood pressure.

"I don't always play the classic goalie role of sitting back in front of the net," Baxley said. "My coach in his words says I give him heart attacks at times. When I read a ball being passed, I try to pick it off and take it all the way down the field to start the attack. I've assisted on a few goals in my career."

Baxley could afford to gamble on last year's Colonel squad, which was the best in school history. Ledyard steamrolled most of its opponents until postseason where it trimmed perennial ECC power East Lyme in the ECC Final, 8-7, and won two state games before falling to St. Joseph in the Class S semifinal.

Team lost nine seniors

The Colonels graduated nine seniors, who accounted for 85 percent of Ledyard's 305 goals. Ledyard may need to adopt more of a defensive posture this season, and Baxley, an All-ECC keeper last year, will carry more responsibility.

The Colonels  open their 16-game season 4:30 p.m. Thursday at home against Northwest Catholic, always a Class S contender.

Baxley assumes a similar role in football where he is the last line of defense as a corner back. The 5-11, 170-pounder was victimized at times for passing touchdowns in football, but overall he was a key member of Ledyard's 7-3 team.

"Defensive back and goalie are interesting roles because you are a 'make or break' player," Baxley said. "If you get burned in football, it's six points. If you let in a goal you sense everyone saying 'Omigod, it's a goal.' But when you break it down it's just one play."

With great responsibility comes a wide range of results. Baxley tries not to get too low after allowing a touchdown or goal, because he knows his pluses far outweigh minuses.

"You have to trust your teammates that one bad play isn't going to ruin the game," Baxley said.

Baxley dropped his goals-against average from 8.22 as a sophomore on a 14-6 team to 5.66 a game last year. His excellent play was at times overshadowed by Ledyard's prolific offense.

 But Ryan Foster (78 goals), Colton Craig (63 goals), Chase Philpot (36 goals), Troy Powell (35 goals) and David Deschenes (27 goals) graduated. Connor Sweet (22 goals, 19 assists) returns as the top scorer and will move from face-off middie to attack to stimulate offense along with junior middie Mike Delia. Jon Schilke and Tyler Rossi return as middies and will be joined by multi-sport athlete Alex Manwaring.

"Slade has made it a point to be the vocal leader of the defense and take more command than in the years past," Martin said. " Slade's athletic ability and good reflexes combined with an aggressive style makes him a very unique goaltender.  He is able to make saves in net as well as affect the offense through his clears."

Got hooked on goalkeeping

Baxley likely possesses enough stick skills to play up front, but he fell in love with the goalie position as a fifth grader in a Coast Guard youth camp.

"I was small back then and was the only kid to volunteer to play goalie," Baxley said. "A camp coach thought I was too small to play goalie, but the Coast Guard goalie at the time told him, 'He's good. He's the future goalie at Ledyard High School."

Baxley estimates Ledyard's offense controlled the ball at least 70 percent of the time last year. That may drop closer to 60-40 this year, putting more pressure on Baxley and his top defensemen, Sean Curtin, Ken Wiese and Cam Pollard.

"I'll have to direct defenses more because I can see us being more defensive-oriented," Baxley said. "It's been a learning experience in preseason. One change will be having a target on our back as ECC champs. It's a realistic goal for us to get to the quarterfinals."

Martin says staying on top will determine if Ledyard is indeed a local lacrosse power despite all the graduation losses. He believes the Colonels may need to intensify their commitment during summer leagues.

"We would like to be a consistent force in the ECC," Martin said. "The youth program is, and has always done, an excellent job in getting players ready and prepared.  Lacrosse is getting so popular now that the good players are playing over the summer.  That is our next big hurdle. We need to get more players out during the summer and competing just like other towns."

Baxley started playing summer lacrosse six year ago, three years after starting youth football."I'm more experienced in football," Baxley said, "but I'd have to say I'm more dominant in lacrosse now."