Boys lacrosse: Wheaton North tops WW South, improves to 9-1

The Wheaton North boys lacrosse team was having a good season.

Then a game came along that was a reality check. While the Falcons were successful, a double-digit loss to Glenbard West, the No. 1 team in one state poll, showed Wheaton North had work to do.

And that work has paid off. The Falcons beat visiting Wheaton Warrenville South 12-11 on Monday for their fourth straight victory.

Naperville North, St. Charles North and South Elgin are part of that streak.

“We learned to work on ball movement, stick placement and the speed of play,” said North’s Cullen Osterman, who scored two goals.

The Falcons’ Max Hauser, who led all scorers with five goals Monday, got his fifth tally with 7:09 remaining in the contest to put his team up by its biggest margin of the evening.

WW South (6-5 overall, 3-2 DuKane Conference) responded with three unanswered goals to make things interesting until the clock ran out.

The Tigers responded offensively several times during the game. They would lead 4-3 after the first quarter.

Coach Alex Szmajda said that shows the progress the team has made from last spring.

“They have a lot of fight in them,” Szmajda said. “They played great all-around. I think we were 2-8 at this point of the season last year.”

Maison Haas led WW South in scoring with three goals.

“They have really good shooters, a really good attack,” said Wheaton North goalie Jack Bermel.

The Falcons (9-1, 3-0) have a strong offense and Szmajda was pleased with how the Tigers’ went up against them.

Monday night’s game was physical like one would expect a lacrosse contest to be. But when it was over, there was friendly conversation among the teams and lots of pictures being taken.

“We’ve been together since elementary school. We grew up with each other,’ Hauser said.

“We played great defense. We played a lot of defense.”