East Boy's Lacrosse Loses 14-4 to Ward Melville

Saturday's  game started out with promise for the East boy’s lacrosse team. After two possessions that ended with quality scoring chances the Bulls finally broke through against Ward Melville with 5:49 remaining in the first quarter when Cole Anderson fired a shot from nearly 20 yards out that beat Ward Melville goaltender Brian Droesch and gave the Bulls a 1-0 lead. But that lead would be short lived.

Two minutes and 40 seconds later Ward Melville’s Will Mazzone scored the first of his two goals to tie the game. By the time the Bulls were able to answer back with a goal of their own they trailed 14-2.

‘I think we had a decent first quarter out of four and then that was it,” East coach Jason Lambert said. “After the first quarter we lost a little bit of energy and momentum kind of swung to them and our guys were down in the dumps a little bit.”

Ranked 18 in the national Inside Lacrosse poll, Ward Melville kept the onslaught coming. The Bulls trailed 7-1 at halftime and went into the corner of the field to regroup.

“We tried to pick them up at halftime, get them going, but they came out and scored those first few goals right as the third quarter started and it kind of put us away,” Lambert said.

Those first few goals – four to be exact – came within the first three minutes of the beginning of the half. Sean Haggerty, who finished the game with three goals, scored directly off a faceoff win just eight seconds into the third quarter. Sean Clearly scored 22 seconds later, John Edmonds cashed in one minute and 13 seconds later and Frank Lucutuorto capped the four goal run.

“It was good to get the first road win out of the way,” said Ward Melville coach Mike Hoppey. “We had a little slow start but I attribute that to their goalie more than anything else. He was very good early on in the game and once we got the first couple we played pretty well from there.”

East’s starting goaltender Brian Balkman made 17 saves in defeat.

“They’re very good,” Lambert said of Ward Melville. “They’re well coached, they execute well, they move well without the ball. They do all the little things well. We can only hope to aspire to get to that level that they’re at.”

The Bulls were able to make the score a little more respectable late after goals by Kyle Gerfo and Garry Watson.

Lambert knew what his team was up against coming into the game but seemed pleased with his team’s effort.

“I told the guys to play hard, we have nothing to lose and we’re a clear underdog coming into today,” he said. “Go out play hard, give it your best shot, let the chips fall where they may.”

Through the defeat he also believes that there is a lesson to be learned.

“(I told them to) pick their heads up, we have a long season to go,” Lambert said. ”We now know where the bar has been set and we can see the difference between them and us and where we need to get to get to their level.”