Boys lacrosse: Perry in attack mode for Neuqua Valley

For some lacrosse players the game just seems so effortless.

That describes Neuqua Valley senior Caiden Perry on Wednesday.

Perry, normally a midfielder, was shifted to attackman by coach Josh Maluta, and it paid off. Perry scored six times and had 3 assists in a 19-2 victory.

How effortless did it seem for Perry?

His first goal, with 10:21 in the first quarter, was a scoop shot from the right side off a rebound. But he proved he could score from distance as well.

With 5:13 left in the first half, Perry got loose 15 yards up top and blasted a shot in a crowd Ito the lower part of the net.

Less than two minutes later, he went in close again, taking a pass from sophomore midfielder Mason Harmer and burying it into the center of the net.

His final goal, with 4:07 left in the third quarter, was once again a shot from about 15 yards out and seemed to cut through the defense - and his own offensive teammates - like a knife through warm butter.

How exactly does one execute a shot like that?

"If the ball is up top, you're starting down low and then moving up top to get open, so the defense is all sunk to the bottom, and that's how you get open," said Perry, who also had 3 assists. "Once you get the ball, you're wide open. It's just you and the goalie."

It was a banner shooting night for the Wildcats (7-3 overall, 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference). Neuqua Valley took 47 shots, for an average of nearly 11 a quarter. The Wildcats saw 11 players score, including 2 apiece from senior attackman Ben Foy, junior attackman Connor Giacomelli and Harmer.

But it was Perry that stood out.

"He's been having kind of an up-and-down year, he's been hitting a lot of pipes," Neuqua Valley coach Josh Maluta said. "He even hit another three or four tonight, but we switched him to attack, to try to get the fire under him, get him some more touches, and obviously, it paid off tonight."

Lost a little bit perhaps in the offensive explosion for Neuqua Valley was the defense, headed up by senior Lucas Honer, junior Griffin Harmer and senior Carl Lachenicht, They played the lions' share in limiting Naperville Central to just 13 shots - including just 1 in the second half.

They also held the Redhawks' main scoring threat, senior attackman Jake Stegman, scoreless.

"In practice we worked on a play just for him, because he is really great player," Honer said. "Whenever he did get the ball, we would go into a zone and that seemed to work."

A night after nearly getting its first win of the season, against Wheaton North, Naperville Central (0-10, 0-3) had all it could handle against Neuqua Valley's speed and stick handling.

"It looked like we ran out of gas in the second and third quarter," Redhawks coach Jay Havenaar said. "Especially in the third and fourth, we didn't have a lot of possessions, so it's hard to beat a team if you not going to possess and take it to the other end."

With Stegman locked down, Naperville Central got offensive help from senior midfielders Zach Rimbos and Greg Turner, both of whom scored. In fact Turner's goal, which came with 9:08 left in the first half, cut the Neuqua Valley lead to just 6-2. But that's as close as the Redhawks got.