On April 21, the boys lacrosse team (2-2-1 overall) fell short on their senior night home game against the Woodside Priory Panthers (4-2 overall) with a final score of 10-17.
Coming off two wins earlier in the week, the Dons were looking to have another success against the Panthers and were hopeful of their chances despite a 5-15 loss earlier in the season. Thus, after the senior night ceremony, the energy within the team was at the highest level it would reach throughout the night as everybody was ready for an exciting game.
“This week, we’re carrying some good momentum,” said head coach of six years Evan King, “[So] I just want to make sure that we come out and execute on our game plan … just our disciplined brand of lacrosse.”
The beginning of the game did not disappoint as the Dons won the faceoff, ran the ball down the field, and got it to senior attacker Max Lacasse, who scored the first goal a mere thirty seconds into the match.
“I was curling around, and they didn’t switch anyone onto me,” Lacasse said. “I just saw an open lane and just went, and that’s a free goal every time [you’re] one on one with a goalie.”
The team attempted to find their footing on offense after their initial success, while still keeping a well coordinated defense spearheaded by senior defenders Avery Misner, Evan Molloy and Ross Victor.
However, in the closing third of the quarter, despite many saves by sophomore goalie Anthony Martinez, the Panthers found a quick succession of three goals to take a 3-1 lead. The Dons quickly answered back with a goal from senior attacker Dylan Daniel before the Panthers scored again with only two seconds left in the quarter, bringing the game to a score of 2-4.
Fighting from behind, the Dons continued to challenge the Panthers on all areas of the field, but neither team could find a way through in the first half of the quarter.
That was, until senior midfielder Xavier McKenzie, who tied with Lacasse as the team’s top scorer that night with 3 goals, stole the ball at midfield and ran it all the way through the Priory defense to score an unassisted goal, bringing the score to 3-4.
“As soon as you pick up that ball and you start to run, the field opens up”
McKenzie’s heroics were not done after just one goal, as he won a faceoff later in the quarter and again ran the ball through the entire Panther defense to score his second of three goals in the game.
“If you pick out ground balls and transitions, then we can easily run through.” McKenzie said. “I did it a couple times where I took them face to face, I was really running the full length of the field. As soon as you pick up that ball and you start to run, the field opens up.”
Throughout the quarter, the Panthers fought back with succinct coordination and an aggressive defense that resulted in the growing of their lead to end the quarter with a score of 4-8.
The third quarter only spelt more trouble for the Dons as their offense was completely shut down and cracks started to form on the goal line. Throughout the quarter, Priory scored five times while the Dons were only able to answer with another goal from McKenzie.
The fourth quarter, in contrast, brought more offensive success than seen in the rest of the game. The Dons would outscore the Panthers in the final quarter 5-4, led by their well coordinated offense rather than relying on hero plays as they had done previously.
The offensive success was off the back of multiple long passes from the defensive stick of Misner to McKenzie, resulting in a mismatch in numbers on the offense that the Dons were able to take advantage of and score.
Both Lacasse and Daniel found repeat goals in the forth as well as additional goals by senior midfielders Dylan Esqueda and Nikolas Michelucci.
However, the offensive success was simply not enough. The Panthers secured four more goals, bringing the final score to a 10-17 Panther win.
“There was a lot of stuff in between the lines,” King said. “Individual plays [were] where we didn’t come out as polished as I know that we can play [and have] played in other games so far this season.”
“This is kind of our revenge tour. We didn’t do too well in the first five games, but we’re coming back in the [last] five games”
Despite the loss, the Dons pointed to some key defensive successes that involved communication and cohesivity as a team as a sign of improvement and momentum the team can take into the final weeks of the season.
“The main communication we have is … who’s going to be the next person to jump on the guy with the ball,” Misner said. “And then we’ll communicate to people as the ball moves around [and] let them know when they’re needed.”
As the season comes to a close, the team looks back on the improvement that they have made throughout the season in addition to the work that still needs to be done to compete with teams that the Dons previously lost to.
“This is kind of our revenge tour,” McKenzie said. “We didn’t do too well in the first five games, but we’re coming back in the [last] five games.”
With the Dons’ home games coming to a close on their senior night, the team’s next game is at Mountain View (8-3 overall) on May 2 at 7 p.m.
