The Hall boys lacrosse team hosted Daniel Hand in West Hartford to open the 2026 season, but before the game began they honored team member Cam Siegal, who was killed earlier this year.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Opening day for any sport are filled with excitement and expectations. Each team has the same chance to win it all, every player has the chance for a career best season. But no one could have ever imagined this opening day for Hall boys lacrosse. Saturday, it began with 23 seconds of silence to honor Cam Siegal before the game began.

This would have been the 17-year-old’s senior season playing for the Titans. Thirty-eight days ago, he was shot to death while getting into an Uber with friends in Hartford, in a still unsolved crime. Police say he was not the target of the gunman, but an “innocent bystander.” Those are words you never want to hear associated with anyone, let alone a 17-year-old loved by teammates, friends, and family.

“There is no processing it,” said Hall head coach Keith Blum, whose relationship with Siegal and his family literally goes back to the day Cam was born. “I was his uncle’s roommate when he was born,” Blum said, fighting back emotions. “This shouldn’t ever have happened. He was a joy to be around,” Blum added.

Cam’s teammates and coaches are working hard every day to honor him, and Saturday was no exception. The t-shirts worn under the player jerseys that normally carry each individual player’s names all read the same this season: ”Cam.” When players broke the pre-game huddle, the cheer was “Cam.”

Players like CJ Nunez, who knew Cam since they were in sixth grade, called him his best friend. Nunez has Cam’s nickname “Twizz” written on tape that he has on his helmet this season. “Every day in practice we honor him by the way we do things,” Nunez said. “We never forget him.”

Team captain Connor McHugh called Cam a best friend to so many. “We love him,” McHugh said. “I still don’t understand how this happens to such a good kid and his family.”

Saturday before the home opener vs. Daniel Hand High School, it was Hall goalie Solomon Levy who carried jersey number 23 – the one Cam would have worn – to the middle of the field for the pre-game coin toss. Every game this season someone will do the same thing as a tribute. The team has also named Cam an honorary captain for the season.

After the introduction of the lineups, the game clock was set to :23 for a moment of silence to honor Cam and on a sunny April day the field, the stands, and even track and field athletes practicing nearby, all stopped to honor Cam. “This means the world to us,” said Cam’s aunt, Rachael Siegal. “They (the players) meant everything to Cam.”

After all that, a collection of teenagers had to pull it together and try to win one for their friend, and five minutes in they started off right. William Werkmeister-Dana scored from the right side delivering the goal that let a team and its fans let it all out and remember the game could help all of them as they look to cope.

Next it was Levy making a pair of strong saves that kept the momentum going before Ben Carlson doubled the lead. It came after a long possession when the junior beat his defender as he went right and fired home the goal.

With 2:05 to play, and leading 2-0, Hall faced its first bit of adversity between the lines when it went down a man for two minutes. Then with 28 seconds to go they lost a second man to a one-minute penalty before getting a final flag just before the whistle, meaning the Titans would start the second period down three men for :05.

The home team managed to get through all of the first and second penalties without allowing a goal, but Hand got its first just as the third penalty was about to expire. After McHugh was denied on a point-blank chance at 8:10, it was Nunez scoring, and celebrating for his friend. “We had energy because we knew what we were playing for,” he said.

Once again though, it would be a penalty that ending up costing Hall. With just :20 remaining in a two-minute kill by the Titans, it was the Tigers’ Kole Samuelson scoring to cut the Hall lead to 3-2.

One of the game’s best executed plays allowed Hall to regain the two-goal lead with just under three minutes to play in the half. McHugh had possession of the ball behind the Hand goal. As he swung out, Bobby Biondi set a perfect screen, allowing McHugh the space and time to get off a bullet that hit the back of the net.

Hall had shown determination in the opening half and Levy had bailed them out several times in net, but the penalties against them were allowing the Tigers to stay in the game.

In the third quarter it was Hand going down two men and after killing it off, going on the advantage when the Titans were flagged and played for :30 a man down. Neither team was able to capitalize on the advantage and the score remained 4-2 until Ben Goldstein, working a give-and-go with Carlson, created the fifth goal for Hall. Three minutes later it was Hall taking a pair of penalties – one for 1 minute and the other for :30. Levy came up big again to help kill off the shorter penalty, but with :21 to go in the other, it was Max Cuticelli – a pre-season player to watch in the CIAC – beating the defense to make it 5-3.

That was followed by a bad breakdown in the Hall defensive zone that led to another Hand score with the man advantage. With :03 to go in the period, and :08 in a penalty kill, Hall looked to be ready to hold the ball and end things. But when a pass from one defender to the other was not handled at the side of the net, Levy was caught out to the left, and Cuticelli grabbed the loose ball, raced around the back of the cage, and fed Samuelson who was a lone in front. Despite Levy’s effort to leap back across the goal mouth and stop the shot, it went in and suddenly it was a 5-5 tie as the third period ended.

Hall would surrender a pair of goals in a 50-second span six minutes in before Biondi was able to bounce one in over the goalie’s shoulder for Hall to make it a 7-6 Tigers lead with 7:50 to play.

Hand would put the game away starting at 5:17 when McHugh was stoned on a breakaway, and Hand’s Samuelson used the breakout for his team to score :21 later. “I had a chance to score and didn’t, and they came back and scored. I take the blame for that one,” McHugh said. He also atoned for it with 1:41 to play when he scored, but it would be too-little-too-late as Hall fell 9-7.

“We have to figure out how to close out close games,” said McHugh. “Our defense was good, Soly (Levy) was amazing.”

“Our first half was maybe the best half I have seen us play since I have been the head coach,” Blum would say after the game. “To have 12 penalties and still be in the game shows we fought hard. It showed me we can play with the good teams and we will build off that.”

Game notes

• In a very classy move, the Hand team presented a donation to the Cam Siegal Memorial Fund before the start of the game. Rachel Siegal said the fund hopes other teams might do the same this year.
• Grants from the fund will support organizations and causes that Cam cared about. Donations may be sent by check (P.O. Box 370366, West Hartford, CT 06137) or via Venmo (@CamdenSiegal_MemorialFund)
• Cam’s family also said his organs were donated after his passing, and in their words, “Even in heartbreak, he created hope. Through this final act of kindness, part of Camden will live on.”

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