La Plata boys lacrosse loses to Northern
Strong third quarter the key for Patriots
Except for a flurry of goals that occurred throughout the third quarter and early in the fourth, Wednesday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference nondivision meeting between the visiting La Plata High School boys lacrosse team and the hosts from Northern was a defensive struggle.
Northern (3-1 overall) owned a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and 3-1 at the intermission, but the two teams combined for nearly one-half of the game’s to- tal in the third quarter. La Plata (1-3) got to within a single goal on two occasions, but the Patriots took a 7-4 lead into the fourth quarter and then opened the final frame with two quick goals en route to a 9-6 victory.
“I was happy with the defensive effort,” La Plata head coach Kris Bayer said. “Anytime you can hold a team like Northern under 10 goals you had to play well defensively. Our goalie, Sean St. Clair, had a good game with 12 saves. We probably could have done a little more on offense. But we might get to see them two more times.”
Northern got a hat trick from Colton Dick and the Warriors’ Ben LeBarron was equally as proficient with three goals of his own. The Patriots provided Dick with a slightly better supporting cast as Alex DiGirolamo and Christian Daniel each added two goals. Northern had been upended by Severn of Anne Arundel County, 14-8, in its previous game April 1, so Wednesday’s SMAC opener proved to be an ideal remedy.
“I was telling our guys after the game that we could see these guys two more times,” Northern head coach Joe Casalino said. “They played us tough the whole game. That’s a good team. We might see them again in the SMAC championship game and perhaps again after that in the region
playoffs. We’ve been knocked out of the region by the same team [Kent Island] the last two years, so our main goal is to get past them.”
Neither team scored in the first five minutes of the contest as a meticulous Northern squad passed the ball around the perimeter
of the La Plata zone before taking several shots three minutes into the game. But it was Michael Vaeth who scored off an assist from Brandon Sulhoff for a 1-0 lead and DiGirolamo gave the Patriots a 2-0 lead less than a minute later off an assist from Brock Daniel.
LeBarron scored the first of his three goals in the first two minutes of the second quarter, but the Warriors could not dent the score-
board over the remainder of the half. Northern was hardly dynamic on offense in the quarter, with the Patriots limited to a goal by Dick on another assist from Brock Daniel with just over three minutes remaining in the half.
“I liked what we did defensively in the first half,” Bayer said, “but we just could not generate much of an attack. I thought we did a better job in the second half,
but we allowed them to get the momentum.”
LeBarron’s second goal in the opening minute of the third quarter brought the visitors to within a goal and, after Christian Daniel scored his first of two goals for the Patriots, Kyle Sisolak notched his first goal of the game to again bring La Plata within a goal at 4-3 with 9 minutes 28 seconds remaining in the period.
Northern responded by
netting three of the last four goals of the quarter. DiGirolamo had his second on an assist from Sulhoff and Christian Daniel tallied his second on an assist from Dick. Justin Dyer scored for La Plata to bring the visitors within 6-4, but Dick notched the last goal of the period to give the Patriots another three-goal advantage.
Northern extended its lead to 9-4 as Dick completed his hat trick less than a minute into the fourth quarter. With just over seven minutes remaining, Cody Getgen and LeBarron scored 13 seconds apart to trim the Warriors deficit to 9-6, but neither team scored over the remainder of the contest.
La Plata is scheduled to be at home tonight versus Chopticon, while Northern is slated to be at Lackey tonight. Both games are set for 6 p.m.