Rivalry Game Ends In Rout

When fans think of rivalry games, they typically think of hard fought, intense, close games that come down to the wire. For the Magruder and Sherwood lacrosse teams Tuesday night, while the intensity was there, the game was anything but close

After Magruder tied the game 2-2 at the end of the first quarter, Sherwood reeled off 16 straight goals and completely dominated the rivalry game, winning 18-5.

“They're a very good team,” Magruder coach Tom Rinaldi said after the game. “We're not quite at their level yet, but we're working on getting there.

Magruder looked strong early on, and had several scoring opportunities. They failed to capitalize on a couple of man-up opportunities though, and potentially could have scored more in the first quarter. After senior Matt Miller scored to tie the game with a minute left in the quarter, it looked like Magruder could hang with Sherwood.

However, Sherwood scored three goals in two minutes early in the second quarter, and kept relentless pressure up for the rest of the quarter. They ended up scoring eight times in the second, and were led on attack by senior Dylan Hubbard, who scored three times in the quarter alone.

As the goals kept piling up, tempers started to flare on both sides. The refs were quick to call penalties, several times sending players from both teams to the penalty box simultaneously.

“That's what happens in a rivalry,” Rinaldi said. “The intensity is good for the game and the players, though players can get hotheaded, like we saw. It's Sherwood.”

Despite being down 18-2, Magruder (1-2) didn't go down quietly, scoring the last three goals of the game late in the fourth quarter.

“We have a lot of heart,” Rinaldi said. “We fought back, we didn't quit, and we didn't simply roll over when we were down... We'll use that later in the season.”

Magruder will try to rebound when they play at BCC at 7 p.m. on Thursday.