by Jacob Schwartz
Unable to maintain the power that it had in the first half, boys’ lacrosse lost to Weston 6-4 Friday, in the season opener at Dickinson Stadium.
Tied at three at halftime, the team lost control of its offensive execution for the rest of the game.
“We had a breakdown in the second half,” said senior Jake Shearman, a captain with seniors Nate Menninger and WIll Spiro.
Not long into the third quarter, a blocked pass by a Weston defender led to a score, giving the Wildcats a 4-3 lead.
“It was a classic case of the other team capitalizing on our mistakes,” Shearman said. “We had issues with our midfield. It wasn’t strong enough.”
The Tigers’ offense was organized, but execution became a problem for the team that
came up scoreless in the second half.
Standing about thirty feet from the Tigers’ goal, a Weston player made an incredible shot at the end of the third, catapulting the ball into the top corner of the net. The goal gave Weston a 5-3 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“We were a bit selfish with the ball for a lot of the game,” Shearman said. “What our coach was trying to do was trying to have us work to find open space by sharing the ball and getting rid of the choppy way we were playing.”
The team overall became less selfish offensively in the second half, but the team was still unable to make many shot attempts, let alone successful ones.
However, in the fourth quarter, junior Joey Mariano finally brought the Tigers within two, scoring on a wrap-around shot. The goal perhaps displayed the Tigers’ persistence, which will likely be useful later on in the season. Nevertheless, it was not enough, and the Wildcats kept the Tigers under control, just as they did in the third quarter.
Unlike the second, the first half included much back-and-forth action, and both teams played well.
According to Shearman, “Holding them to six goals was reasonable. However, there is need for improvement on our offensive end. We had a high rate of shots, but the execution was poor.”
Coach Bussy Adams said the teams needs to improve its execution. “Throughout the game we had several instances where we could have capitalized on different plays we ran. We couldn’t find the open man.”