Boys lacrosse: St. Charles East defeats Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op
For 42 minutes Monday night the St. Charles East boys lacrosse team weathered equalizers from Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op, to the tune of 8 total ties.
In their first contest of the season, the Saints just weren't able to shake a pesky Valley team that already had a pair of wins under its belt. That is, until the last 6:16, when they tallied three times to prevail 12-9.
The difference in that crucial stretch, according to senior midfielder Jacob Collins?
"Energy, you know?" said Collins, who scored four times and assisted on the de facto game-winner, a blast by sophomore midfielder Maxwell Connelly into the upper net at 6:16. "We had energy. We had fist bumps, high-fives, 'Great job,' 'Great play out there.' It really helped our team because we really haven't done that."
You want an example of that energy? Try junior midfielder Ronan Macaluso's Michael Jackson-esque dance after his insurance goal at 4:24 of the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach. Junior attackman Mitchell Canales added the final score at 1:23, with the assist from Collins.
In light of that, Saints coach Nicholas Leonard never felt like his team was out of the woods.
"I had to use a timeout early on, before our two minutes, so if I can, in the second half, I would have both timeouts for that two-minute push just in case it's tight like it is," Leonard said. "I really don't count anything with how faceoffs can play. Thankfully, in this game we were able to win some faceoffs and take it straight down.
"But this is a game of offense. You don't get shutouts, so this could have really flipped on us."
Seven players scored for St. Charles East, including Macaluso and Canales, who each had a pair.
Valley coach Chris Conner knows St. Charles East well. He coached there for four years before taking on his current role two years ago, and he coached Collins and senior goalie Cam Meyer, among others. So there was a little extra mustard on this game for him, and he wasn't let down by his charges.
Four players scored 2 goals for Valley: Junior attackman Nick Asuan, junior midfielder Julian Wlodarczyk, senior midfielder Ryan Spragg and sophomore midfielder Zach Wentz.
But Valley just couldn't get over that late fourth-quarter hump. The closest it came was a blast from 7 yards out at 2:36 from senior midfielder Brenden Hennessy that was just wide left of the pipe.
"It got away a little bit," Conner said. "It was more lack of execution in the fourth quarter. We played a really good first three quarters, but the fourth quarter it got away from us a little bit."
Despite the loss Valley outshot St. Charles East 36-32, while junior goalie Ryan Benson had 9 saves. Asuan said there is plenty to take away from this early-season test.
"It's just consistency, that's pretty much it," he said. "Without a couple of bad errors that me and a couple of attackmen had in that fourth quarter, we were right with them until the end. So it's just making sure we stay focused and consistent."