Standing about 5-foot-2 and weighing 115 pounds, Damien Biersteak wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a high school lacrosse goalie. It took a lot to convince Damien Biersteak to put on protective pads and take a tryout at Essex Tech.
Four years later, he and the Hawks are forever grateful for what he did.
“It went a lot better than I expected,” said Beersteak, a Danvers resident who has made a career-high 313 saves this season, more than any other North Shore goalkeeper.
“I was a really little kid. When I decided to try out, I thought maybe I’d make it onto JV. Next thing I knew, I was playing in the first game and I’ve been busy ever since.”
The 18-year-old Bierstiker, who will lead Essex Tech to a battle with Pembroke on Monday in the first round of the Division 3 state playoffs, holds just about every record imaginable for a goaltender at the school: He has a career record of 53-22, 914 saves and a 61 percent save percentage, and his minutes have been countless. Not yet Since spring 2021, I’ve been playing with both hands.
This season, facing an almost entirely new defense, he again stopped 61 percent of the shots and was named to the Cape Ann League first team for his outstanding play as a goalkeeper.
When asked if the 5-foot-8, 140-pound four-year goalie is the Hawks’ most valuable player, head coach Sean Parsons didn’t hesitate.
“A billion percent,” he said. “We win almost every game because of Damien. Other coaches like Josh (Wedge) at Newburyport and Glenn Foster at Ipswich have told me after games how talented he is.”
When he first started playing Danvers youth lacrosse, Bierstacker’s father, Derek, told him not to raise his hand when asked if anyone wanted to play goalie. Naturally, Damien raised his hand and enjoyed it most of the time. (“Scoring my only goal with the short stick in youth was one of the highlights of my career,” he laughs.)
But toward the end of his tenure, he began to question whether he wanted to continue playing goalie, a thought that continued through his eighth-grade season, which was lost due to COVID-19.
But his friend, Fisher Gadbois, a Danvers native, told him he should give it a try. Parsons talked to Derek Bierstacker after he spoke to him. They all said give it a try and see what happens.
In the end, it seems to have worked out very well for both the players and the program.
“It’s been a great experience ever since,” Parsons said. “It’s been fantastic to watch Damien develop from a Grade 9 kid into an 18-year-old who is poised, confident and just a beast as a goalkeeper.”
He compiled a 13-2 record as a freshman and led the Hawks to their first (and only) playoff win, a 9-7 victory over Linfield. Although they suffered a brutal 20-19 loss to Bishop Fenwick three days later, Biersticker said he learned a valuable lesson then and has taken it to heart ever since.
“I knew I had to get better. I was better than when I played in that game and I had to show that,” said Biersteak, who studied HVAC at Essex Tech and spent last year working for Better Comfort Systems in Malden. “I had to work harder from that point on to get better.”
He compiled a 16-5 record as a sophomore and led the team to both the Commonwealth Athletic Conference title and the Trade School Championship (14-13 overtime win over Shawsheen).
“People might not think it’s a big deal,” he said, “but it was a big deal to us. It was an amazing feeling.”
Last year’s team went 14-6, but this year Beersteak added another 10 wins to his goaltending resume.
The goalkeeper said three new defensemen — Jackson Moody, Brodie Callahan and Enzo DeLuca — have stepped up and played big roles, as has standout LSM Armani Booth (Biestecker, Fisher Gadbois, injured midfielder and team captain Dominic Tiberi). Defensive midfielders like Nevin Maher and John Taylor have also stepped up their game.
“The guys have gotten better and better with each game,” said Biersticker, whose only game-day superstition is that he wears the same white long-sleeve shirt and gray sweatpants under his uniform top. “We’ve all adapted to playing against better opponents in the new (Cape Ann) league and understanding what we need to do to be successful.”
Parsons estimates that Bierstacker blocks 75 to 80 percent of shots when opponents get close to the goal and take a shot. He’s also become much better at staying focused on the ball, rather than the player or the stick, when opponents get close to the goal. He’s also becoming more conscious of how often he head fakes and trying not to get caught out by them.
“We watch the games on tape and there are so many ‘Wow’ moments when he makes a save,” Parsons said.
For now, Biersticker plans to keep working and possibly playing box lacrosse (“How about I keep a stick in my hand somehow?”), but he wouldn’t rule out attending college or trying out for a team.
For now, he’s focused on staying in high school for as long as possible.
“If there’s a team that can win it, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be us,” he said. “Winning the state championship three years ago was definitely a championship, and it would be nice to win it again.”
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