HARWICH ─ It's the first official varsity season of the Monomoy boys lacrosse team, and the Sharks are fighting for every goal in spite of tough losses recently to Sturgis East and St. John Paul II, though they were bolstered by a one-goal victory against Sturgis West, the team's first win of 2017.

The Sharks hosted the Storm last week, falling 20-8 in a challenging outing.

“We're inexperienced,” said head coach Bill McCullough. “Three starting attackmen are freshmen, and three starting defensemen are sophomores. So we're brand new.”

In total, the team includes 10 freshmen and three eighth graders, many of whom haven't played at the varsity level, or are new to the sport. Nonetheless, the Sharks are soldiering on.

“We're trying to work our way up,” said McCullough.

Monomoy struggled to keep up with Sturgis East's Sawyer Gibbons, who netted eight goals in the Storm's April 13 win, which saw strong play from both Rory Carpenter and Elijah Beasley, both of whom had hat-tricks in the game, with Carpenter adding an assist as well.

Also scoring for the Sharks were Owen Smith and Zack Donnelly, each with one.

Connor Santoni came away with seven faceoffs in the outing, and overall Monomoy made 23 shots on goal, but Sturgis goaltender Nick Pinard proved difficult to crack.

McCullough said he was pleased with the efforts of relief goaltender Nick Malone, who came in during the second half, and Kyle Gabri for his work on the crease attack.

The Sharks again faced a tough challenge when the hosted the SJP2 Lions, falling 17-4.

In the April 11 match, a quartet of Monomoy players found the net, including Santoni, Beasley, Carpenter, and Gabri, but the experienced Lions squad cruised to the win.

Monomoy enjoyed its first win of the season April 10 when they defeated Sturgis West on the road with a final score of 11-10.

Santoni had four goals for the Sharks, with teammates Carpenter, Gabri and Connor Deveau each scoring twice, and Beasley once.

The emotional game was played in honor of Monomoy player Cam Coomber's father, Neville Coomber, who passed away suddenly April 8. With Cam in their hearts, and his father's initials on their helmets, the Sharks continued battling against West, eking out the one-point win thanks to a solid effort in goal by Malone, with strong defense from Cole Currie, Kyle Charlot, and Riley Demanche.

“We're taking our lumps,” said McCullough. “But we're improving.”

Next up for the Sharks is a trip to South Yarmouth to face the D-Y Dolphins today (April 20) at 11 a.m. before returning home April 25 to host Falmouth Academy at 4 p.m.