Boys’ Varsity Lax Ousts Governor’s
On Wednesday, the boys’ varsity lacrosse team won its away game against the Pomfret School. The team scored ten goals to the Pomfret School’s two, dominating the game. The team also played Governor’s Academy at the Governor’s field on Saturday, and triumphed with eleven goals to the other team’s eight.
This week held two challenging games for Big Red. In particular, its game against Governor’s Academy was a test of their skill and ability to work together as a team. According to upper Jon Debonis, Governor’s was the best team Big Red had faced, and the team needed to play at its best in order to succeed. Big Red was winning in the first half, but Governor’s started to come back in the second half of the game. Lower Matt Hawke said that the game was, “The first time we have had to play in a close game, and coming out with the win was huge for us.” In addition to being against challenging teams, both games were away. Big Red’s success shows that it’s are a strong team both at home and on the road as it goes into more challenging games in the rest of the season.
In their games this week, the team learned some important lessons that it will utilize in the rest of the season. Debonis said, “I learned that we need to keep our momentum going even after we get a big lead, as things can change quickly in a half.” Hawke said that playing an entirely strong game was a lesson he learned in the Governor’s game. He said that at the half, “We let down a little bit and let them come back. We definitely learned that we have to play a full game to compete with the best teams.”
Debonis added that Hawke helped the team keep up their momentum with his spirit, determination and skillful play. Debonis said that Hawke stole the ball from a Governor’s player in the final minutes, leading to the team scoring. He added that this gave the team “the boost we needed to finish strong.” Hawke also credits senior captain Bradley Ingersoll with helping the team acquire and maintain a lead. He said, “In the first half Brad carried us a lot. He came out firing and had a hat trick pretty early into the game.” Although Ingersoll played with exceptional skill, Hawke attributes the win to the entire team’s ability to work together. He said, “Ultimately, we fed off of each other’s hard work on both the offensive and defensive end which helped us win.”
These games boosted the team’s record to six wins and one loss, which it hopes to improve upon next week with two wins in its games. The team will be playing the New Hampton School in an away game on Wednesday and against the Loomis Chaffee School at home on Saturday.