Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
STA rollsWestern in Region 4 semis
St. Thomas Aquinas, propelled by a game-opening 13-0 run led by Michael Milanes and Jacob Urbano, breezed past visiting Western 16-5 in a 2A boys lacrosse regional semifinal on Wednesday night.
The No. 1-seeded Raiders advanced to Saturday’s Region 4 final, which will see the Raiders host Jupiter in a battle of the area’s top two seeds. Apart from the trio of scores each from Milanes and Urbano, three other players finished with two tallies apiece.
“I think if you look at the scoring, it was distributed through the whole offensive team,” St. Thomas Aquinas coach Terry Crowley said. “Each guy is getting two goals and that is kind of our goal. It is not on one guy. We want to distribute the ball evenly, and I think we were successful doing that.”
Immediately following a regional semifinal blowout victory that saw the Raiders’ girls lacrosse team pummel Western’s to the tune of 23-0, the St. Thomas Aquinas boys jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. The Raiders added six more runs in the second and two more early in the third before the Wildcats finally got on the board.
“Ball control. We controlled the face-off early,” Crowley said when asked what was the key to his team’s game. “The wings played great. They got our offense the ball, and all six of the offensive players were a threat.”
The Wildcats, who were without usual head coach Doug Shanahan due to what was described postgame as a “medical leave,” got some late consolation prizes. They scored four of their five goals in the final quarter, including three from senior Alec Marinelli.
“[St. Thomas Aquinas] is a team you have got to play very, very hard all four quarters,” said Western coach Jonathan Davis, “or you do not really get a chance to stay in these games for very long.”