St. Andrew’s cruises past Benjamin

BOCA RATON — In a showdown between two of the state’s top boys lacrosse teams, Benjamin was no match for St. Andrew’s on Friday night.

Buoyed by five consecutive goals to start the game, St. Andrew’s raced past Benjamin 15-6 in the regular-season finale.

North Carolina commit Michael Lizzio scored a game-high four goals, while Carl Klepper and Nick Yi each added three goals. Jackson Kennedy, who converted from defense to midfield this season, fired in two goals, while junior attackman Matt Adams dished out three assists.

“We controlled the ground balls around and we put a lot of balls on the ground and we came up with it,” St. Andrew’s coach Tony Seaman said. “It was a total game performance.”

Once the state’s premier program, St. Andrew’s (12-2) looked like the Scots of old against Benjamin (10-3), which has reached the state tournament in three of the past four seasons.

St. Andrew’s, which is seeking its first state title since 2012, stormed out of the gate as Lizzio and Klepper combined for four firstquarter goals to help the Scots race out to a 5-0 lead after 12 minutes. Defensively, St. Andrew’s shut down Bucs star midfielder Will Nicklaus, a North Carolina commit, from the getgo, holding the senior scoreless on the night.

“We know what [Nicklaus] likes to do and we like his tendencies,” said Seaman. “I think Oliver Alpert is maybe the best long pole maybe in the state and I thought he played him great. We were coming as soon as he drove right-handed because he’s always turns back and lets it go.”

After taking a 7-2 halftime lead, the Scots scored six unanswered goals to take a commanding 14-2 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

St. Andrew’s dominance over Benjamin continued a recurring trend over the years as the Bucs have never been able to top the Boca Raton private school.

The Scots will begin their playoff run on Tuesday as they host Boca Raton in the District 26 semifinals; while Benjamin will face Dwyer on Wednesday in the District 24 semifinals.