Boys lacrosse: Energetic Warren edges out Barrington

Sophomore attacker Mason Wattleworth was quick give a shout out to varsity defensive coordinator and JV coach Justin Van Schaick.

"He's the one always telling us to 'bring the juice,' " said Wattleworth after the Devils' varsity boys lacrosse team came away with a thrilling 10-9 victory over Barrington in Gurnee on Thursday evening.

"A big part of why we're doing well is the enthusiasm and defense he brings. It gets us psyched and we try and carry that over to the game."

That defensive tenacity and prowess - along with the enthusiasm - resurfaced in the fourth period.

Warren, which improved to 5-0 on the season, had held an 8-4 lead at halftime.

But Barrington (3-4) got the offense rolling in the third, when junior attacker Ethan Beyrer scored the hat trick to draw the Broncos even at 8-8 with 5:29 left in the third.

"I think we came out a little cocky after halftime, but we need to just worry about ourselves and play our game," said Wattleworth. "But we settled down and got the juices going again (in the fourth)."

Sure enough, the defense stiffened. And it was Wattleworth's goal with 10:34 left in regulation that gave Warren a 9-8 lead.

"I got a good sweep and two good picks and just underhanded it low," he said. "We had some great stops in the fourth, especially at the end."

Wattleworth and the Devils ended up scoring an insurance goal with 8:49 left to make it 10-8.

Beyrer had knocked in his sixth goal of the game with 2:21 left, but a turnover and a man-up possession helped enable Warren to run out the last 1:07.

"Luckily, everything has been going well so far," said Warren coach Greg Janczak, whose program hosts Evanston on Thursday at 7 p.m. "We have a lot of guys who can score and a lot of leadership and passion.We're trying to not get ahead of ourselves and to stay humble."

Warren raced out to a 5-2 lead after the opening act. Junior attacker Nathan Crawford scored the hat trick in the first, while single goals were punched in by sophomore attacker Kevin McCarthy and sophomore midfielder Logan Haar.

Broncos senior attacker Mark Danelz and sophomore midfielder Nathan Nguyen scored in the first quarter for the Broncos, who travel to Stevenson next Tuesday.

Warren separated itself in the second as senior attacker Christian Dimaano scored the hat trick. Beyrer answered with his first two scores on the evening to cut the lead in half.

"Warren's a really good team with very good athletes," said Barrington coach Jason Kaiser. "It's taken some time, but we're slowly getting acclimated as we have an increasing number of new varsity players."

Warren keeper Joe Tomei played the entire game and came up with some big saves in the fourth after Warren reclaimed the lead.

Senior William Moston and junior Aidan Sadler each played a half in goal for Barrington, which slipped to 3-4 this spring.