Anyone expecting to see a show of power by Blue Ridge’s lacrosse team against Monticello Thursday night — and there was no shortage of folks expecting just that, had to wait on the Barons.
Monticello’s scrappy, young and improving program gave the Barons all they could handle for a half before the Mustangs out of gas late in a 12-1 Blue Ridge victory over the Mustangs.
“Things have gone our way a lot so far,” said Blue Ridge coach Nic Bell. “(Monticello) played really hard—they were tough, they played hard and they followed a game plan. And we didn’t do a good job taking care of the ball.”
The Barons started the year with a narrow victory over powerful Montgomery Bell out of Tennessee, then scored 20 goals on defending VISAA Division II champion Christchurch a week ago, then rolled 18-5 over Virginia
Episcopal. That string of wins and high offensive output seemed to spell trouble for the Mustangs who boast just four seniors on the roster and lean particularly heavily on sophomores at close defense and goalie. But Monticello managed to slow down the Barons, particularly in the first quarter, and the game was deadlocked after the opening frame at 1-1 with goals from Monticello sophomore Chase Phillips and Blue Ridge junior Garrett Chan knotting the score.
“I was just really excited about how hard they played—the fact that they just kept right in there and kept pushing it,” said Monticello coach Matt Hicks. “We were able to come out there and play the kind of game we want to play no matter who we’re playing.”
The Barons got into something of a groove right at the start of the third quarter after building a 5-1 halftime lead. Quick goals from Cory Takahara, Tanner Fisher and Tyler Pace at the outset of the third turned the game into a rout as Monticello committed a series of turnovers and surrendered goals on fastbreaks. Blue Ridge, who relied heavily on current Seton Hill attackman Matt Delmonico for the bulk of last year’s offensive production spread the scoring Thursday with seven players tallying goals for the Barons.
“There’s a lot of guys, I don’t think we need to lean on somebody like we did Matt last year,” Bell said. “We’re going to get three and four out of a lot of different guys.”
Fisher scored three goals while Garrett Chan also turned in a hat trick, pouring in the first three goals of the contest. Mitch Klarner also had two goals, while Chase Fraser and Zak Folks had a goal each to round out the scoring.
Defensively, Kody TeKanawa and Jack Hamer made life tough on Monticello’s attackers who got some good chances but struggled to find their way past Andrew Wilson, Blue Ridge’s two-year starter in goal.
Monticello sophomore goalie George Van Dyke racked up 10 saves against a slew of talented Blue Ridge shooters.
“For a sophomore goalie to come out and do those kind of things for us, you couldn’t ask for anything more,” Hicks said.
Blue Ridge heads south to take on Maryland school C.M. Wright at Hampden-Sydney at 10 a.m. Saturday. Monticello hosts E.C. Glass Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.
