Boys lacrosse: Crosby, Glenbard West make up lost time

You could give Glenbard West junior attackman Josh Crosby a pass if he had had a rough evening Saturday against Downers Grove.

After all, the Marquette lacrosse recruit wasn't feeling well, and due to a miscommunication, his team's bus arrived at around the time the game was originally scheduled to start. As a consequence, he had 10 minutes to warm up.

Sound like a recipe for disaster? Guess again.

Crosby scored 4 goals to lead the Hilltoppers to a 9-3 victory. That included a pair within 14 seconds of each other in the first quarter that allowed Glenbard West to stay just one step ahead of feisty Downers Grove this night.

On the first, at 4:39, the Hilltoppers (7-2, 4-1 West Suburban Silver) peppered Downers Grove senior goalkeeper Xen Briggs with 4 shots before Crosby finally broke through on the right side. On the ensuing faceoff senior attackman Ben Frick won it, and two passes later, it was Crosby from the left side.

"I think for us, it's a momentum thing," Crosby said. "If we don't have the momentum at the beginning of the game, it's kind of hard for us to really get going, so I thought it was a momentum boost that we could carry through the whole game."

After a Downers Grove goal by senior attackman Jay Cremer, Crosby's teammate, senior attack Matt Cesario added to the momentum, and the lead, by cutting behind the net from the left side and depositing a shot in the right side.

Not a bad start, considering the rough trip down Interstate 355 the Hilltoppers had. The team had a bus scheduled for 4:45 p.m., but it didn't arrive until 5:30 p.m. Game time was 6 p.m., and if the trip usually takes about a half-hour … well, you do the math.

"It definitely affected our play, because we had a 10-minute warmup, and we usually have a half hour-ish," Cesario said. "Today we had to stretch and get ready for the game, basically."

Crosby netted his hat trick with 4:07 left in the half to make the score 4-2, and things looked good for Glenbard West, but hold everything. Downers Grove had other plans.

Senior midfielder Marty Kline hit home on a shot from about 7 yards out on the right side at 8:17 of the third quarter, on a pass from senior teammate Davis Johnson.

Suddenly, it looked as if the worm might turn for Downers Grove (2-6, 1-4). Freshman goalie Michael Piotrowski was playing great and ended up with 12 saves in the second half.

But the Hilltoppers scored 5 unanswered by taking a whopping 29 second-half shots, including Crosby's fourth with 1:33 left in the game. That left Kline as blue as the numbers on his uniform, but he did have perspective - his team is playing much better than it was in the season's opening stages.

"I think from last week when we (beat) ICCP, they beat us the last three years, and that really got the momentum going and it carried over into this game," Kline said. "I think we're playing well as a team. I think we'll be very good by end of the season."

His coach, Shon Zawlocki, agreed.

"We're playing better lacrosse," Zawlocki said. "Spring break was probably needed. We got our butts kicked a couple of times before spring break. The guys who stayed put a lot of work in and it's starting to show,"

Glenbard West outshot Downers Grove 43-14, but Piotrowski and Briggs combined for 16 saves.