Boys lacrosse: Fremd's attack too much for Palatine
Attackers Dylan Michalak and junior Jack Hipchen were in attack mode Thursday night for Fremd in its Mid-Suburban League boys lacrosse match at Palatine.
Michalak (5 goals) and Hipchen (6 goals) led the way in the Vikings' 16-5 win.
Fremd (4-4, 1-1) snapped Palatine's (4-2, 1-1) four-game winning streak with the win.
"This was a big win for us since it was a conference game and it broke their win streak," said Michalak. "We stuck to our game plan and were able to rotate the ball. "
Palatine took an early lead with 10:41 left in the first quarter on Nick Oswald's goal.
Michalak and Hipchen went to work teaming up to score 5 of the next 6 Viking goals. Michalak tied the game at the 8:18 mark. Hipchen struck for goals at 7:31 and 6:59. Noah Petrikas scored for Fremd for a 4-1 lead before Michalk scored his second goal of the quarter with 4:38 remaining and a 5-1 lead.
Michalak scored early in the second quarter on an assist from Noah Walker on a man advantage situation.
Anthony Plesnicar scored the Pirates' second goal, making the score 6-2 before Luke Feerick (3 goals) scored twice with a tally from Michalak in between.
Leading 9-2 at the halftime break, Fremd put the game away early in the third quarter on scores from Hipchen and Feerick to lead 11-2.
Palatine did score three times in a 2:10 span on goals from Connor Lang, Joey Henrikson and Oswald.
Fremd countered with 5 consecutive goals to build the 16-5 lead. Hipchen scored the final 3 goals for Fremd.
"I worked a lot on my shot over the winter playing indoor lacrosse," said Hipchen. "It's a smaller goal, kind of like hockey but it helped me make better shots. This was a good game for us to win. One thing we did well was to cut down on our penalties. It made a difference. When they scored those three goals in a row, we called time out and got our momentum back."
"This was a good game for Dylan and Jack," said Fremd coach Nick Mamula. "They are one part of us. Walker did a great job on face offs for us. They are just so important. We won a majority of them. This game helped us get to where we want to be. It put us in the right direction."
The Pirates, despite the loss, are off to one of their best starts in 10 years under first-year coach Chris Gantz, a former Fremd assistant.
"Fremd had the emotion tonight and sometimes that's more than skill," said Gantz. "We are still a very good team but we know that we have some good tools for the future. I think we have one of the best goalies in the state in sophomore Rand Paddack. He has really good lacrosse IQ. He sees the ball well. We know we have obstacles to overcome each game but we are learning."