Bengals Lacrosse Nearly Pulls Off Comeback

After being out-played in nearly every facet of the game in the first half of their match at Lacey last night, things quickly started clicking for Barnegat's boys varsity lacrosse team in the second.

But the second-half surge wasn't enough, as Barnegat fell to Lacey, 6-5.

The Lacey Lions dominated play and made the most of their opportunities in the first half, out-shooting the the Benagals 10-4.

In the second quarter, Barnegat did not get its first touch in the attacking zone until midway through, and failed to register a shot on net.

In a five goal half-time hole, Barnegat head coach Ryan Dalon cited a general lack of confidence in using each other as teammates as the main flaw.

"More or less, I told them it was on them as a team to go out there and compete. They're the ones that have to go out there together, it was up to them." said Dolan.

His team responded swiftly with three goals in a matter of three minutes.

Middie Brandon Jecas scored two of the three goals. The Bengals first tally came as Jecas buried a shot after sustained pressure to open the third quarter. Jecas scored again for the Benagls third goal off a nice cycle, seconds after Mark Surovcik flew through the air delivering a shot that found the back of the net.

The Lions Tyler Copeland scored to end the third quarter with the rallying Bengals still down 6-3.

Sophomore Middie Zach Tanner continued the rally into the fourth quarter after he cut the lead to two again, releasing a shot that beat Lacey goalie Joe Elefante just before his stick was knocked out of his hand.

"It was intense, plenty of pressure. We managed to get some great shots," said Dalon of the last few minutes.

Barnegat came up empty on three straight man up attempts that certainly could have changed the outcome had they netted one.

Sophomore attack Nick Anderson connected to make the score 5-6 with 1:55 to play, after narrowly missing a few times earlier.

"In the timeout (prior to Anderson's goal), we talked about running the play correctly. We needed a goal there and I wanted to give some of our middies a break after a long cycle." said Dalon.

Despite the 12 second-half shots, Barnegat ran out of gas late after going all out for the tie and nearly pulling it off.

The effort was enough to win over respect from the host.

"We've been in that situation before and know how it feels," said Lacey head coach Shane Allen, "they played with a lot of heart coming back today."

The Bengals will be back in action on Wednesday, traveling north to take on the Holmdel Hornets at 5:30 p.m.