After a rather lackluster first half that saw Boys’ Latin take a 3-2 lead at halftime, the Lakers finished with a kick to top Archbishop Spaulding 8-3 in the MIAA A conference opener for both teams.
“Give Spaulding a lot of credit—they came out with a lot of energy,” Boys’ Latin coach Bob Shriver said after the game. “We didn’t match it, which is a little disappointing.”
Although it only took the Lakers 10 seconds to register the game’s first goal when Wells Stanwick dented the net off a Taylor Stothoff feed, the Cavaliers played tough lacrosse to keep it close. They forged a tie at 1-1 and 2-2 before a Stanwick goal assisted by Colin Heacock gave Boys’ Latin the lead for good with 3:50 left to play in the first half.
BL opened the second half with back-to-back goals by Greg Pyke in the first two minutes, one on a feed from Trevor Kiddy and the other assisted by Stanwick. Stothoff added a third-quarter goal off a Heacock assist. Stothoff and Stanwick each had fourth-quarter goals to put the game out of reach. Kiddy had an assist on the Stothoff goal, while Stothoff fed Stanwick on his fourth and final goal of the game.
A smothering BL defense, including some nice saves by goalie Adam Davey, kept Spaulding off the scoreboard in the second half until the Cavs scored the game’s final goal with only 2:55 left to play.
Shriver said Matt Pons and Joey Weidner “played very well at the defensive end.”
When asked to relate what he said at the half, Shriver said he reminded the team that it had two good starts in previous games. He told the team, “so let’s flip it, and we did,” Shriver recalled.
“We played much better in the second half,” he said, adding “hey, we only gave up three goals. We’ll win a lot of lacrosse games only giving up three goals.”
The win brings Boys’ Latin to 3-0 on the season, and 1-0 in league play.