Martlets Have Satisfying Win

On a cool and cloudy day in the Litchfield Hills, Westminster Second Boys' Lacrosse played its most complete game and defeated host Salisbury 5 - 3. A longer warm-up paid early dividends as the Martlets jumped out to a 3 - 1 first quarter lead, a 4 - 1 half-time lead, and a 5 - 1 three quarter lead. Great leadership was supplied by game captains Riley Bitterli '14 and Angel Guerrero '12 which helped focused the team. Despite statistics suggesting a closely played game (groundballs W 32 - S 24, shots W 22 - S 22, and saves W 8 - S 9), the Martlets controlled the tempo of all aspects of the game except penalties (W 2 penalties for 90 seconds - S 6 penalties for 330 seconds). The game ball went to Ryan Seymour '14 (1 G, 1 A) for his all around control of play, and he was joined in scoring by Lorin Tobey '15 (1 G, 2 A), Drew Poling '13 (1 G, 1 A), Preston Miller '13 (1 G), Keegan Giordano '15 (1 G), and Sam Pope '12 (1 A). Stand out players in addition to Seymour and Tobey for their respective all around attack and midfield play, were Poling for his faceoff work, Peter Johnson '15 for his improved intensity and execution as a defenseman, Drew Simeon '15 for his outstanding ground ball play, and Patrick Holowesko '12 for his goalie play. The entire defensive long poles (Bitterli, Brennan Cross, Johnson, Avery Leveston '15, Cullen Matt '13, and Simeon) and short sticks (Austin Pope '14, and Ryan Mowery '13) executed Westminster's defense as well as they have all season. There were moments when the defense was as good as it could possibly be executed. Not to be outdone, the attack (Gavin Durham '13, George Brown '15, Sam Pope, Seymour, and Eli Zempsky '15) and middies (Alex Connal '15, Giordano, Guerrero, Miller, Charlie Niles, Will O'Donnell, Poling, and Tobey) ran the Motion Offense as well as they have all season and recognized, executed, and properly exploited lacrosse situations throughout the game. Whether it was hitting a backdoor cut or cutting to open space, or finding the 2 on 1, the offensive players Lacrosse IQ was at an all-time high Wednesday. It was a great day to be a Second Boys' Lacrosse player. A highlight for volunteer coach, Mr. Pope, was a feed from his Sixth Form son, Sam Pope, to his Fourth Form son, Austin Pope, on the crease who shot behind his back and just missed a-goal-the-family-would-have-talked-about-forever.