The boys lacrosse team steamrolled the Burlingame Panthers in a decisive 14-4 victory on Tuesday night. This win adds to an undefeated 7-0 record in league play and an impressive 9-3 record on the year.
From the get-go, the Bears jumped on the Panthers as senior faceoff Eric Torre won his first of many faceoff wins for the night. Senior attack Colin Kryger then quickly buried a shot in the top left corner of the net to get the Bears on the board.
Another faceoff win by Torre made way for junior midfielder Ben Skirboll to reach the paydirt with a rocket to the back of the net, giving the Bears an early 2-0 lead.
The Panthers struggled to find answers for M-A’s juggernaut offense as junior attack Carey Wolf meticulously navigated through defenders and bounced in another goal for M-A with seven minutes left in the first half.
Torre remained dominant at the faceoff, continuing to secure possessions for the Bears. Despite this, Burlingame broke through with their first goal of the game.
Building off of their momentum, the Panthers tightened up defensively, briefly slowing the Bears’ offensive unit. However, M-A still managed to tack on two goals to make it 5-1 as the first quarter came to a close.
The dawn of the second quarter saw senior goalkeeper Olivier Yuk make his first save of the night. The Bears continued to apply offensive pressure with a goal and a subsequent defensive interception from Kryger that was cashed in to make the score 7-1 with 4:35 left in the half.
The Bears’ defense remained strong as senior close defender Will Sherman delivered a devastating blow to pop the ball free and produce a turnover. Just before the first half concluded, the Bears registered another two goals to stretch their lead to 9-1. Yuk closed out the half with two crucial blocks to keep the Panthers’ deficit at eight.
Offensive contributions continued to come from all cylinders as junior midfielder Matthew Sanford found the back of the net to extend M-A’s lead to 10-1. Despite Yuk recording two back-to-back saves, the Panthers managed to score twice in quick succession, narrowing the gap to 10-3.
The Bears regrouped and promptly answered with their eleventh and twelfth goal of the night, establishing their lead back to nine.
The start of the fourth quarter saw both teams trade goals, with the Panthers fighting to close the gap. However, senior attacker Jonas Roodman easily sank the last goal of the night to bring the final score to 14-4.
“We did exactly what we wanted to do today. We put them away early and were able to cruise through the rest of the game,” Kryger said.
“We lost a lot of seniors last year, so I think there was a lot of uncertainty going into this year. But, the leadership from our captains and multi-year varsity players has really allowed us to come together and find success this season,” Torre said.
The Bears will now turn their attention to their last non-league game of the season against the Stevenson Pirates at home at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
