On Thursday night, the boys’ varsity lacrosse team defeated DeSales High School with an incredible score of 15-7 to start the season.
“I love the fight that we saw in our guys. It’s what we’ve been working on since day one, and they’ve made huge strides in a lot of progress since. I’m excited to see the boys grow and watch them develop not only as players, but as young men,” coach Blake Rose said.
First Half:
The Crimsons started the game strong by getting the drop and passing the ball up the field. Roehn Dye (#3, 11) made early attempts to score but struggled to get the ball past the goalie. Dye quickly recovered, leading him to put the first point on the board. DeSales responded with a goal immediately after. The Crimsons retrieved possession and kept making shots at the goal before the DeSales coach called for a timeout, just three minutes into the game.
Once the game resumed, Yisak Korssa (#25, 11) and Liam Johnson (#2, 10) made shots at the goal. However, the DeSales goalie stood his ground. DeSales earned possession and headed down to the Crimsons’ goal. They made multiple attempts to score, but Samuel Abrams (#12, 11) prevented them from scoring. One play unfortunately snuck past Abrams, tying the score 1-1.
Dye promptly made a goal taking the lead in the game. Soon after, he claimed a hat trick, which gave the Crimsons three points. A bit later in the quarter, Johnson made his first goal of the game. The score of the first quarter was 4-2.
In next quarter, the Crimsons hit the ground running with Braxton Cox (#4, 12) immediately scoring. Shortly after, Owen Singer (#27, 11) followed by Korssa both put points on the board just three minutes in. The Crimsons’ offense was fierce, and DeSales’ defense couldn’t keep up.
The Crimsons continued their streak with Johnson and Aryan Patel (#26, 10) both adding to the score. With ten seconds left in the quarter, a timeout was called to regroup. DeSales benefitted from this pause, and with just two seconds left, they scored. The score at the end of the half was 9-3.
Second Half:
The second half played out very similar to the first. Johnson made yet another goal at the very beginning of the quarter. DeSales came back with a sneaky goal, but it didn’t create any momentum for the team. Manual’s midfield players were on their A-game, and kept the ball down at DeSales end of the field.
Korssa managed to score another goal later on in the quarter. DeSales called a timeout with one minute left, but it had no benefit for the team. The score at the end of the quarter was 12-4.
The final quarter started with Dye getting yet another goal, followed closely by Johnathan Hendricks (#7, 11). DeSales gained possession and carried the ball down to the Crimsons’ side, where they made two goals, and attempted even more but Abrams came in clutch to prevent them. The Crimsons’ defense worked hard with the forwards leading to Dye claiming the final point of the game, after a quick timeout. The final score was 15-7 for the Crimsons.
“I think our season will be a lot better than most people are thinking. We got a lot of new guys, so once they get their skills up and get to a level where the team can help each other out without needing to rely on one person, I feel like our season will be pretty good,” Korssa said.
The boys’ lacrosse team’s next game will be on Tuesday, March 10 at 6 p.m at Manual stadium.
