WELLESLEY — With each passing step approaching Wellesley High School’s field grounds, the chant in the distance only grows louder: “One, two, three, Raiders!”
Then it continues.
“Four, five, six…Viper!”
The wounds are still fresh, but the Raiders continue to honor the life of a man who loved the game of lacrosse dearly, and his wife has now joined them in their journey.
Eric LaPlaca, 52, died on Sept. 14, 2023, after a brief illness. The Wellesley community and its girls lacrosse program still feel the booster’s presence and honor his memory. His wife Joanna has signed onto the team as an assistant coach. Now, Wellesley is off to one of its best starts in recent years.
LaPlaca was a lifelong optimist, always looking to connect with others. He was a former football star, having played at Bowdoin College in Maine, but there is one thing most will remember him for.
He was a family man. The couple first met in Franklin, going to high school together. But their relationship grew in later years.
As soon as his daughter Jessica started to fall in love with the sport, so did he, as did Joanna.
The pair made sure to never miss a game. Eric would diagram plays as he began to familiarize himself with the craft.
It actually became the rallying cry for the Raiders, and it’s now in the school’s playbook.
“He would always give me, as the coach, these plays written out on napkins, or the back whatever he had,” said Wellesley coach Steve Balter. “Just to say: ‘‘How come we don’t do this coach?’
‘His favorite one, that we never used (initially), he labeled Viper. It was the Viper play. We started calling him that, and it kind of stuck.’”
Their daughter later burst onto the scene as one of the premier lacrosse players in the state.
After Jessica graduated, however, Eric started to feel ill. It only worsened as the summer progressed.
When he passed, a void was left in the community, and the tight-knit town of Wellesley made it a mission to ensure he would never be forgotten.
“This whole situation was tragic,” said Wellesley senior Eliza Chapman. “But I think the team, especially being a captain, I’ve tried to take this into a positive light, as best as I can. Like I said, Jess, and her family mean so much to me. The team means so much to me, and I know how much it meant to Mr. LaPlaca. I wanted to take this opportunity, and memorialize the season to him in some way.”
LaPlaca was diagnosed with Stage Three CTE.
Joanna decided to visit Jessica’s collegiate game on March 10. Playing for St. Lawrence, the college freshman was facing off with Trinity College in Connecticut, a rare opportunity to seize.
When Joanna walked into the stadium, she noticed Balter. She was surprised.
An ironic twist, but the mentor was in town, hoping to see one of his former players succeed at the next level. The two began to catch up.
“I just was really touched, that he would come to our game,” Joanna said. “He just started saying the team needed help: ‘The Wellesley girls need help! They need an assistant coach.’ I hesitated, and I looked at him. … He was like: ‘Will you do it?’”
It almost felt necessary. After asking for a few hours to think, Joanna opted to take the job as an assistant, and was immediately a member of one of the top girls lacrosse teams in the Commonwealth.
It was like adding a member to the family for the Raiders.
“I thought about it more and more,” Joanna said. “And nothing is making me say no.”
Soon, LaPlaca was running Wellesley’s defense as a coordinator. The team has emerged as one of the top squads in the state.
The Viper name has become ingrained in Wellesley’s culture, now the official name of its club lacrosse team.
“I think they’ll just remember his pure enthusiasm,” Joanna said of her late husband. “He had people laughing a lot with that, because he had the parents (chuckling), because he made comments during the game. But I think they’ll just remember his true passion, and love for the game of lacrosse.”