GBN Lax Takes Out Frustration on Stevenson

After receiving their most lopsided loss of the season two days before, Glenbrook North boys lacrosse wasn’t going to let that feeling linger.

The Spartans took out their frustration on Stevenson in the form of an 11-7 win at William Lutz Stadium Saturday afternoon on Senior Night.

On Thursday GBN lost at Loyola 12-3 and came out on fire against Stevenson.

“We had a lot of anger that we wanted to release, but it’s really good to bounce back because they’re a tough team,” Tommy Chapman said. “They’re good. It’s nice to get this win.”

The Spartans were up 3-0 by the end of the first quarter and Chapman’s second goal made it 4-0 22 seconds into the second quarter.

The teams were forced to pause play in the middle of the second with the score at 5-1 due to a weather delay. The delay didn’t last long, but was enough to slow the Spartans’ momentum.

“In the past couple, maybe three or four games we’ve been getting rain delays mid game,” senior Charlie Carlisle said. “Depending on the game it’s been different. This game we kind of came out slow out of it. Sometimes it works to our advantage, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Stevenson (6-8) got back into the game by scoring three straight goals in the third to cut the lead to 6-5. A pair of goals from Ryan Maksimovic and one from Ryan Merritt opened the lead back up to 9-5.

The Spartans (11-3) survived another push from Stevenson to hold on in the physical affair. There were numerous penalties in the game.

“I think it was more just the emotions running real high,” Matt Brown said. “That really has an effect on people to run their mouth a little bit more. These games are real big because this is a big play for us in our standings.”

With just a few games left in the regular season, moving up in the standings is key for playoff seeding. The Spartans have a shot for a top eight seed in the 28-team playoffs.

Defensively, Kyle Fernitz, Jimin Choi and Nathan Kelleher did well to keep Stevenson from getting quality shots on goalie Matt Greenfield (12 saves). Fernitz said the team did well to deal with groundballs on the grass field in sloppy conditions.

“The grass is fun to play in and it makes the games a lot different,” Fernitz said. “In some cases like when it rains it can be fun. It makes the game a little rugged, you get dirty.”

Midfielders Carlisle and Brown both complimented the balanced attack of Merritt (3 goals), Maksimovic (4 goals) and Chapman (4 goals).

Next up for the Spartans is a trip to Benedictine University for a game against Benet Academy on Tuesday.