Wildcats Opener Spoiled By Rebels

Fortunately for the Bethel High boys lacrosse team, it won’t get much tougher than its’ season opener against New Fairfield High. Unfortunately, the Wildcats (0-1, 0-1) found themselves on the wrong side of a 15-4 game against their SWC opponent.

The Rebels controlled nearly every faceoff, and dominated possession early on. Pinned in their end throughout the first quarter, the Wildcats went into the second quarter trailing 6-0.

“I think a lot it’s nerves, we’ve got a lot of young guys out there,” coach Keith Marotta said. “Faceoffs are obviously important too, and we were having trouble facing off in the beginning of the game.”

Down 11 at the half, the Wildcats continued to play hard and were able to generate some offense of their own after having almost no offensive chances in the first half.

Doug Schmid made it 14-1 midway through the third. The Wildcats would score the next three goals, getting a pair from Brian Crosby, while Zach Prout added a goal of his own.

“We scored a couple of goals, we did some good things,” Marotta said. “There’s definitely some things we need to improve upon.”

Despite the loss, Marotta saw plenty of things that he liked in his team’s opener.

“It’s a loss, would I have liked to win, yeah,” Marotta said. “My guys didn’t give up, they hustled. New Fairfield has a tradition of being a very good lacrosse team, we’re a fairly new program. We came out, the fact that my guys didn’t give up, played the entire game, finished the game, held their heads high, played a clean game, that’s really the most important thing.”

Ryan Campbell made the start in net for the Wildcats and finished with six saves.

Bethel’s next game is Monday at home against Brookfield at 5 p.m.