Hart’s 7 goals lead Adams over Troy
When utilizing a young team, it’s important to rely on the few veterans you have.
Rochester Adams’ boys lacrosse team is certainly doing that with Rico Hart.
The senior continued a hot start to the season Tuesday night, scoring seven goals to lead the Highlanders to a 13-6 win over Troy.
“He’s the heart and soul of this team and I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone,” Adams coach Brad Smith said of Hart. “Not only does he perform on the field, but he’s a great leader and motivator off the field. With our young team, he’s been a mentor to these guys. You can’t really say enough about him.”
Hart kept Adams (5-0) in the lead throughout the contest, as he scored the opening goal a few minutes in and ended up with three in the first quarter to give the Highlanders a 4-1 advantage.
“We were moving the ball quickly and looking for the best shot we could get, not settling for tough shots,” Hart said. “It was a great team effort from us. We are a young team, but we are really coming together.”
Troy (4-2) struggled offensively, unable to get many looks in the first half.
However a pair of sophomores kept the Colts in the game. Sophomore goalie Joey Clark made five saves in the opening half while Caleb Regner scored two goals to keep Troy within reach at the break, down 6-2.
“It’s nice to see the young guys making the strides they have,” Troy coach Brian Johnson said. “It’s not always easy to be a young guy on varsity, but this year we have seen a lot of the guys step into leadership roles and do a better job being vocal.”
Typically a fast-starting team, the Colts just couldn’t muster consistent offense. However, its defense stepped up in the third and held the Highlanders to one goal to trail 7-3 going into the fourth.
“The third quarter was definitely our best,” Johnson said. “We have typically started games pretty well and come out fast. We’ve been a four-quarter team,
but we didn’t do that today and that was tough to see, but we can get back to that.”
Adams managed to pull away in the final half of the fourth quarter, scoring four goals over four minutes of play. Hart netted his seventh goal with 2:46 to play, but he also assisted on a pair of goals.
Freshman Deacon Morgan had a big night for Adams
as well, scoring three goals.
“We knew going into the season that this was going to be a young team and there could be some growing pains. I told some of the freshmen that they are going to be on the field a lot and have to learn on the fly,” Smith said.
Regner finished with three goals to lead Troy, while Clark made eight saves. Adams goalie Mateo Alaniz-Garcia had nine saves.
The Highlanders may be
young, but it hasn’t led to any issues in the win column.
They are off to a 5-0 start and eying a big OAA matchup with Lake Orion on Thursday.
“We have goals of winning a conference, goals of winning a region and goals of winning the city rivalry,” Smith said.
“We want the challenges and pressures that come with that and it’s exciting to be getting ready for a big match with Lake Orion on Thursday.”