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09/12/2019 12:00 AMPeter Ablondi-Taylor was a baseball player while growing up in North Branford. When he was 4th grade, Peter transitioned to lacrosse when his uncle got him involved in the sport, and he hasn’t looked back since. After scoring 40 goals for the T-Birds’ boys’ lacrosse team as a junior, Peter has his sights set on having a big senior year at North Branford.
“I was pretty awful when I first started, but I stuck to it, and my coaches believed in me,” Peter says. “After I started to play with my summer team, my career really kicked off and started getting better from then.”
Peter has always suited up as a midfielder on the lacrosse field. Peter’s ability to get up and down the turf with ease makes him a perfect fit to play that position.
“I’ve always been a midfielder, because I’m a tall, skinny guy that can run the field and not get gassed,” says Peter, who also joined the North Branford football squad this fall. “I’ve done pretty well. As a freshman, I wasn’t the best I could’ve been. I could have been better, but coach helped me, believed in me, and helped me grow to where I am now.”
North Branford boys’ lacrosse Head Coach Dave Carpenter says that Peter made immense improvements during the 2019 season. Peter’s progress came on the heels of a sophomore year that saw him miss some time due to a shoulder injury.
“Peter put in a lot of work last offseason, and I could see it at our conditioning test. He cruised right through it, where he had struggled in the past. He wanted it, and he was pushing everyone,” Carpenter says. “Peter came back strong and did a great job of creating offense and separation from guys. His quick burst of speed and quick release on shots makes him tough to defend.”
Peter injured his left shoulder after taking face-offs as a sophomore. He underwent surgery and a grueling physical therapy schedule in order to get back on the lacrosse field this year.
“I tore my labrum in my shoulder and had to miss the last six games that season. I felt like it stunted my lacrosse growth, and it was a big wall I had to get over to overcome,” says Peter. “I had to stay on top of my physical therapy to get strong enough to play my junior year.”
Peter played the full season in his junior year and finished second on the team with 47 points by scoring 40 goals to go with seven assists. Peter’s 40-goal performance doubled his career high and gave him 70 goals for his varsity career at North Branford.
“During conditioning, I got in really good shape, so I could stay on the field a lot more and do more. Getting faster, getting bigger, I could play more of the body and really get my moves down better,” Peter says. “I don’t think it was just me. It was the whole team, because we really were a family last year. We bonded and all had a common goal to go win the Shoreline Conference. We tried our hardest, and we did it.”
One of Peter’s biggest goals was to help North Branford win the Shoreline Conference Tournament for the first time. After experiencing that taste of victory this spring, Peter wants to help the T-Birds defend their league title in the 2020 campaign.
“That is really important to me. I told the new freshman, ‘If you want to play lacrosse, I’m all for it, but if you’re going to mess around, don’t try, because we have a common goal.’ We want to win Shorelines again, and I want to make a run in states this year, too,” says Peter. “Being a family is huge. If not, we can’t work as a team. One thing we did last year—anybody who scored, everyone that was on the field would run over and get loud. The other teams would get scared because they could see how close we are.”
In his first year on the football team, Peter has been lining up at wide receiver and cornerback for North Branford during the preseason. Peter hopes that playing football will help him get faster and stronger for his ultimate goal of pursuing lacrosse opportunities at the college level.
“I don’t want to look back at high school and think I could’ve played football and didn’t. I think it already has helped me with lacrosse as I’ve gained more weight and improved my footwork,” Peter says. “Nothing is certain yet, but I know lacrosse is going to be in my life. I’m certain about that.”