The boys lacrosse team dismantled the Hillsdale Knights 15-1 in the first league game of the season on Tuesday night.
The Bears domination started immediately after the opening whistle, scoring in the first nine seconds of the game with a pass from junior attacker Carey Wolf to senior attacker Colin Kryger. Senior midfielder Jonas Roodman continued this momentum with a goal of his own just a minute later to extend the lead to 2-0.
Refusing to let up, Kryger continued to score and banked three more goals within the next two minutes to increase the Bears’ lead to 5-0. Senior offensive midfielder Spencer Cadigan followed up quickly, finding an opening between the Knights’ poor defense and drilling the ball in the back of the net with 8:08 left in the first quarter.
The Knights weren’t able to gain possession of the ball until the 6:00 minute mark, and it was easily turned back over to M-A due to their aggressive defense. Senior defensive midfielder Sebastian Gormsen connected with Kyger, who capitalized on Hillsdale’s sloppy positioning for another goal.
The Knights had no answer for the Bears’ offensive strategy, and looked overwhelmed the entire quarter. As the clock was winding down, sophomore offensive midfielder Will Torre broke through the Knights’ defense, and senior face-off Eric Torre capped off the quarter with another goal, bringing the score to 9-0 for the Bears.
The Bears carried this momentum into the second quarter, as Cadigan struck again for his second goal of the game. But, the Knights were finally able to find a hole in the Bears’ defense and score a rebound shot past senior goalkeeper Finn Gallo for their first score of the game, leaving 6:55 left in the quarter.
Hillsdale’s comeback remained short-lived after junior attacker Bruno Szollar managed to score a goal just 20 seconds later. Wolf followed with a long snipe of a shot, pushing the halftime score to 12-1 with the Bears in the lead.
The second half started off with Torre rocketing the ball past the goalkeeper for another goal. Junior offensive midfielder Ben Skirboll dished one into the cage to get the last goal of the game with 8:53 remaining in the third quarter.
The Bears put up multiple shots in the fourth quarter but were unable to successfully land a goal. The Knights, a short-handed team, were exhausted. After an uneventful final quarter, the game concluded with a dominant 15-1 victory for M-A.
“We applied pressure early, and it lasted throughout the game,” Wolf said. “No one’s selfish. We’re not a team of individuals, and we play great together.”
“Eric Torre won every faceoff, and Hillsdale couldn’t respond after our goals,” sophomore long stick midfielder Will Clark said. “Our team has a great relationship and community.”
The Bears will travel to play the Palo Alto Vikings on Friday night at 7 p.m.
