Rolling along in Division II
Cumberland, Mount secure impressive home victories
WOONSOCKET — The Mount St. Charles boys lacrosse team is clearly deeper and more talented than the squad that ran through Division IV last season, but as they found out in the opening quarter of Friday afternoon’s home opener against Prout/EWG co-op, they’re not in Division IV anymore.
Thanks to some superb play by Cam Fonseca and some ill-discipline by the Mounties, the Crusaders scored the game’s first three goals. It looked like Mount was in deep trouble in its first Division II game.
And then Mount cleaned up its act and stopped committing penalties. The Crusaders led by a goal at the end of the one quarter, but that was the final time they would lead as senior midfielder Will Lawrence scored a game-high four goals and sophomore All-State attack Pat Murphy added three in a 12-7 victory.
“This is going to be a tougher challenge, so we need to be more focused and more dialed in,” senior attack Jason Mandeville said. “We got a little sloppy and we got a little rushed on the offensive side, which is the only side I can really talk about. We need to slow it down, make the cuts when they’re there and
don’t force things because that just leads to turnovers and transition for them.”
“It was a little bit of a rough start, but we picked up where we left off last year,” Mount senior middie Ethan Cordeiro said after a solid effort. “This biggest difference between last season and this season is going to be the goaltending. The kid in net today made a number of good saves because we have some really good shooters. We love the challenge. You want to win, but no one wants to win by a blowout all the time. We’re happy jumping up here.”
Mount St. Charles (1-0 Division II) clearly has talent all over the field, but the challenge for coach Joe Ryan is blending the talent together in a short space of time. A number of the team’s starters, including Lawrence, Andrew Thorndson, Aidan Darlington, Michael Hagens, goalie Jack Parsons and Murphy returned from USA Hockey Nationals earlier in the week.
Friday was the first chance for Ryan to see how all the talent comes together against an opponent in Prout/EWG that hammered Mt. Hope in its season opener.
“This is a little different than last year because this team’s defense was a little stronger and their attack was better than teams we saw,” Ryan said. “The kids had some nerves and jitters because we have quite a few freshmen playing a lot of minutes. We just need to figure out who plays well with whom and where everyone needs to be to make the team better.”
Prout/EWG (1-1 Division II) received three goals from Fonseca and a pair from senior Jack Malek. The Crusaders put three goals past Parsons, who is in his second season in net, before the Mounties could respond. The trio of defensemen Hagens, Ryan Fitzgerald and Matt Davenport only allowed one goal over the next two quarters, while the offense finally found its footing thanks to Lawrence.
Lawrence, who was a second-line winger on the U18 national title team, dominated face-offs, giving the home side plenty of zone time. Lawrence and Murphy both scored in the first to cut Prout’s lead to one after the first quarter.
“It’s my first year with these guys, so I’m work just trying to work with them and get to know them off the field,” Lawrence said. “We just want to be working together as a unit. After winning that national title, I’m feeling pretty good right now, so coming out here I’m just trying to help us win games. I feel like if I get my job done at the X, we’ll win most games.”
Mount scored the first four goals of the second quarter to take a lead they would never relinquish. Prout responded with a goal in the final two minutes of the half to cut its deficit to one. The Mounties scored the next five goals to build a 12-5 lead in the fourth quarter before Ryan started to rotate some of his reserves into the game.
Darlington and freshman Frankie Ryan scored a pair of goals, while freshman James Hagens came off the bench to net his first career goal.
“Fitting in the new guys is tough, but it’s also easy,” Mandeville said. “We’re never going to turn down talent because it’s going to help our team and this gives us more opportunity. It’s challenging because you have a lot of guys who want to play and can play, but it’s great because we have so many options.”
The Mounties travel to Westerly Monday night to take a on Bulldogs squad that is 1-1 after beating Mt. Hope and losing to Cumberland.