Boys lacrosse: Naperville North ready for anything against Downers Grove

When the season started a few weeks ago, and the weather was crummy, Naperville North boys lacrosse coach Kevin Benages had his team outside practicing.

Other teams may have been drilling inside, but the idea was to get the Huskies ready for anything, including games like Tuesday's nonconference tilt with Downers Grove.

With the weather a balmy 47 degrees at game time, Naperville North breezed to a 10-2 victory by scoring three times on its first 7 shots.

"Coach Benages put us through the weather all through the beginning of the season," said sophomore Mikey Ancona, who had a hat trick. "Regardless of rain and snow, we've been playing out here in practice. He said he wants to prepare us for every occasion that can be thrown at us.

"Even those cold days, we were out here, playing in sweatshirts and sweatpants, and we were just playing as a team, trying to get better. It was difficult … since we have such a great defense, the checks hurt a little bit, but we pulled through as a team."

Ancona, an attackman, and senior midfielder Grant Pass each scored in the first quarter, with Pass adding another early in the second, which gave the Huskies all the scoring they would need this night.

Ancona started the scoring at 7:01 of the first quarter with a blast from the top of the crease on the right side. Less than two minutes later, Pass tallied from the right side about 10 yards out.

A shade over two minutes after that, it was Ancona again, from basically the same spot as his first goal.

Downers Grove stopped the bleeding with a goal from senior midfielder Audie Brackett on the left side past a sprawled Naperville North senior goalie Jake Allgood.

But even then, it was almost too late. The Huskies used their defense to limit the Mustangs to just 6 shots in the first three quarters. Conversely, Naperville North put up 30 in the same span and ended up outshooting Downers Grove 36-11. In all, six players scored for the Huskies.

No rain, no snow, and just a slight wind For the Huskies, basically perfect weather conditions, considering everything they went through at the season's outset.

"At first, I'm not going to lie, it stung a little bit from the blistering cold, but my coach is a big believer in mental toughness, so nights like this, it doesn't even faze us," said junior defenseman Nate Mathue, a Towson recruit.

Though they were down 7-1 at the half, the highlight of the evening for the Mustangs was the third quarter, where they basically held the Huskies scoreless save senior Jack Young's goal at the buzzer. The previous 11 shots were off mark and four of them were saved by freshman goalie Michael Piotrowski.

Still, it was a loss, and Brackett admitted there's work to be done for the Mustangs (1-4).

"We just have to be able to work on our cardio and stay in these games," he said. "We have to get people in and out, just work hard. I'm not sure what else we can do besides getting to practice earlier, keep practicing harder."

Senior midfielder Conor Thomas scored Downers Grove's other goal, a blast from the right side about 10 yards out with 5:22 to go in the game.