Boys’ lacrosse: varsity goalie Gavin Peake aims to save the game

A Los Gatos lacrosse player sprints toward the goal, fakes left, fakes right, then swiftly heaves a 70-mile an hour toss at the net. While most people’s reaction would be to duck or run, junior Gavin Peake calmly catches the ball in the mesh of his glove.

As the sole goalie on the varsity lacrosse team, Peake is essential to the Falcons’ success, yet most people forget just how much pressure rests on the shoulders of the goalie.

“Sometimes it’s all lot of pressure on me if we’re in a close game, then the team blames me if I’m supposed to save it, but I understand that,” said Peake.

Even with this pressure, Peake doesn’t believe goalie is necessarily the hardest position.

“It’s not just the goalie. I think all positions all have their hard parts to them,” Peake said.

Peake has been playing the position of goalie since freshman year but played midfield for three years before that. As for training, Peake does different drills than the rest of the team.

“When the rest of the team is doing stretching and warm-ups, I’m in the goal and my coach is shooting on me and getting me warmed up,” said Peake.

Although Peake is generally modest about his goalie skills, his teammates do not hesitate to praise him highly.

“He’s an amazing goalie,” said midfielder sophomore Roman Balogh. “He’s generally amazing. He’s one of the best goalies in the league.”

Junior Rick Wilson, who played lacrosse with Peak over the last two years, believes Peake’s ability has improved.

“I definitely believe he has improved since last year. He is just one of those guys who does really well,” said Wilson.

On March 30, the team lost with a score of 17-0 against Burlingame. “I think everyone was really off their game. Burlingame is actually worse than Los Gatos and we beat Los Gatos,” said Balogh.

During the game against Los Gatos on March 26, the team exceeded their expectations. The team worked hard and beat Los Gatos 6-4.

“I believe [Los Gatos] was one of the best games we’ve ever played. [It was] a big one for us,” said Balogh.

As of April 1, the team was 2-2 in league. Upcoming games include Archbishop Mitty on April 17 and Gunn on April 20.