WESTWOOD – Lincoln-Sudbury is still adjusting to life without its three All-Americans.
But for the top-ranked Warriors, the wins keep coming even after Eric Holden, Connor McCarthy and Harlan Smart graduated off last year’s state championship team.
Despite the bumps in its play so far this season, L-S was on the right side of things again on Thursday against No. 9 Xaverian with a 9-5 non-league road win.
“We’re still learning,” said senior attack Jack Sutherland. “Defensively, they’ve always been there. They’re looking strong, but we got Ward Melville on Saturday, so we’ve got a lot to work on. We got to step it up a little bit. It might have looked alright, but we made a lot of mistakes.”
It took until the second quarter for L-S (3-0) to create separation against Xaverian (2-2) after senior attack Jared Grier (two goals) leveled the score, 2-2, for the Hawks with three seconds left in the opening frame.
The Warriors took the lead for good 2:08 into the second quarter as Sutherland netted his second goal of the contest.
L-S continued to dictate play and scored in transition with senior attack Hayden Frey finding sophomore attack Matt Ward in front of the net for a goal and a 4-2 lead with 6:05 left in the first half.
Just under a minute later, the Warriors found the back of the net again. This time, Sutherland made a perfect pass to a cutting Frey, who deposited a shot for a goal and a 5-2 advantage.
“The look was there,” Sutherland said, “and Hayden, perfect finish. We got into it and got settled. We’ve been playing a little bit frantic recently and we settled down in that second quarter.”
L-S added one more tally before the end of the half as sophomore midfielder Jack Garrity overpowered his defender to give the Warriors a 6-2 lead heading into the break.
Xaverian had a difficult time creating offense as L-S shutout the Hawks in the second quarter. It also didn’t help matters that star senior attack and Penn State commit Sean Sperzel was sidelined with a shoulder injury sustained in Tuesday’s contest against St. John’s Prep.
“Sean’s been a leader on the field for such a long time that the new guys need to step up when he’s not on the field, especially that go-to guy who you know is going to hold the ball when you have it,” said Xaverian coach Tim Gardner, who gave no timetable for Sperzel’s return.
Sophomore midfielder Jack Whalen gave the Hawks some life to begin the third quarter by moving to his right and firing a shot past Trevor van Leer (eight saves).
But Xaverian couldn’t keep L-S off the board as the two squads traded goals for the rest of the quarter, giving L-S a 9-5 lead going into the final 12 minutes.
And despite keeping Xaverian scoreless in the fourth quarter, L-S didn’t close out the game in strong fashion. The Warriors lived dangerously by consistently turning the ball over in the defensive zone allowing the Hawks several chances to cut into the deficit, but Xaverian’s attempts were to no avail.
“It’s always good to beat a team like Xaverian, but those guys are down a few guys. Key guys,” said L-S coach Brian Vona. “I’m not sure we’re winning that game if they’re healthy. In fact, I know we don’t win that game if they’re healthy.”
Blog:
Media:
