Fox Lane Dominates Briarcliff in Boys Lacrosse with 11-4 victory

The Fox Lane Foxes boys lacrosse team came out blazing yesterday and never really cooled off.

Despite being on the road against the Briarcliff Bears, they came out sharp, fluid and were in attack mode. They scored early and often as they cruised to an 11-4 victory.

The Foxes began the game with nine straight goals  - five in the first quarter -before the Bears mustered up a score. The Foxes went into halftime up 7-0 and Briarcliff's first goal didn't come until the 9:58 mark in the third quarter.  Although the Bears outscored the Foxes 4-2 in the final quarter, Fox Lane's early offensive output was too much for Briarcliff to overcome in the end.

"We really wanted to come out early and be aggressive, and I think we did a good job of that as a team both offensively and defensively," senior Conor Morris said, who had two goals for the Foxes. "We got a lot of contributions from different people today so it was a solid win for us."

Offensively Fox Lane had many more second and third shot opportunities that definitely were reflected in the shots on goal comparison. The Foxes had double the amount of shots on goal as the Bears did. The final totals were 38-19 in favor of Fox Lane .

Much of that was due in part to the Foxes' offensive attack and execution, but a huge part of the differential was their defensive intensity. The pressure that Fox Lane was able to apply on Briarcliff definitely gave them fits and many times led to turnovers or extremely tough shots.

Fox Lane 's midfielders and defenders were all over the field swarming to the ball, and when the Bears did get in scoring range, the Foxes' down-low defense was stingy to say the least.

Fox Lane junior goalie Cameron Stephens was extremely efficient in net and carried a shutout into the final quarter where Briarcliff scored its late goals. Stephens had 15 saves for the game and made a few key saves that really kept the momentum from ever shifting hands.

"Right off the bat our guys came out with intensity and energy and they gave me a good cushion to fall back on," Stephen said. "Coach (Chris Vazzano) just told at the half to just keep doing what we were doing and everybody offensive and defensively played great, even our subs."