The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Red Devils win home opener over Jugglers
Geiss, Oliver record hat tricks in lopsided VVS win
VERONA, N.Y.>> Rain late in the week washed away contests for most local teams at the tail end of their spring break, with the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill boys lacrosse team being an exception.
The Red Devils certainly seemed happy to be on their home field for the first time.
Alex Oliver and Richard Geiss each recorded a hat trick on their muddy field in a 15-1 victory over a short-handed Utica Notre Dame teamon Saturday morning.
“It’s always tough to try to do things when you’re slipping and sliding,” said VVS coach Kris Sullivan of the conditions. “They adjusted pretty well today. We’ve been working on our footwork a lot and I think that helped out today.”
VVS made things look easy from the outset, getting the game’s first shot off just 39 seconds in although it sailed wide. The Red Devils kept possession and Oliver scored his first goal 41 second later to stake the hosts to a 1-0 lead.
“It just gives us a confidence booster,” said Oliver of the early lead. “It was good.”
The Jugglers’ lone goal tied the score at 1-1, coming from the stick of Nate Cooley with 8:37 to play in the opening period. Jon Lubeck countered three minutes later, powering his way through the defense and firing a shot home for his first goal.
Witha 2-1 lead, the Red Devils began to run away with the game. Brayden Marchand
worked his way through the UND defense as well and bounced a shot into the net later in the period before Mike Eastman whipped a long, low shot in for a three-goal edge. Matt Ciotti added another score late in the quarter for the hosts, who took a 5-0 advantage into the second.
With a running clock enacted to start the next period, VVS continued to tack on goals. Oliver opened the scoring in the second with a left-handed goal with 8:45 to play in the quarter.
“I’ve been working on it,” he said of the maneuver. “It was kind of slowbut it went in. It’s all good.”
Geiss’ first goal extended the lead to 7-1 nearly midway through the period and Marchand scored his second later on to give the Red Devils an 8-1 lead they took into halftime.
“What I’ve been telling them lately is go in with confidence but don’t be cocky about it,” said Sullivan. “We still have to play the game. It’s kind of what we’ve been talking about during practice.”
His team continued to display that poise in the second half while having some fun on the field as well. Geiss’ second goal came with 9:15 to play in the third quarter and he made a bid for his hat trick with 3:55 to play in the period, firing a long shot that UND goalie Pete Braick was able to snag for one of his six saves. Ciotti did add a second goal before the end of the quarter and the Red Devils took a 10-1 advantage into the final 12 minutes.
With Sullivan getting some of his reserves into the game, the hosts’ didn’t let up. Ben Peterson and Ryan Rotach scored to extend the lead to 12-1 before Geiss did get his hat trick with 4:55 to play, bouncing a long shot past Braick. Oliver added his third goal with less than a minute to play and Lubeck tacked on his second as well for the final margin.
VVS goalie Garrett Harrington finished with four saves as the teamimproved to 5-2 on the season.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up,” said Sullivan. “One game at a time so when we get there we should be focused and ready to go.
“I think it’s important to stay on the right path. We’ve played a couple good games in a row now so hopefully we’ve gained some confidence. We’ve tried some things during this game that we’ve been working on and actually worked well and we saw it, so hopefully that confidence will just build.”