St. Anne’s-Belfield’s boys lacrosse’s Austin Park knew he needed to bounce back and get the momentum headed back in the right direction after struggling on faceoffs against Collegiate in a loss in the regular season finale.
“After the Collegiate game — (where) I got worked — in practice as a team we worked a lot on wing play, positioning our LSM where we wanted to, positioning our short stick defensive middie in the exact spot to matchup hip to hip and win some of the 50/50 ground balls,” Park said.
In a 15-5 victory over Cape Henry Saturday in the VISAA Division I first round game, Park helped the Saints gain a 14-7 advantage on faceoffs while picking up 10 ground balls, sparking the win while pushing the Saints into the state quarterfinals where they’ll face a rematch with No. 3 St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes. Park’s effort was emblematic of a Saints squad that needed to get back on track.
“In a lot of ways we needed today I think to get back to doing the things that we were doing well leading up to the Collegiate game,” said STAB coach Bo Perriello. “Things kind of got away from us a little bit in that game and we wanted to be able to establish some positive momentum heading into Tuesday.”
The Saints accomplished that task, getting into an early groove against the Dolphins. Jack Schultz in particular got going in a big way, notching nine points while pouring in six goals and connecting on three assists in an explosive effort at attack.
“I think Jack has just decided to find another gear which he is capable of,” Perriello said. “I think he’s been a little disappointed in some of his performances over the last couple of games. He obviously sets a really high bar for himself and he came out with an intensity today that we really need from him over the next, hopefully several games.”
With four goals and two assists from Joe Robertson and a hat trick from Landon Green, the Saints’ offense found a rhythm that was hard to find against Collegiate earlier in the week with the lack of possessions.
With that rediscovered rhythm, they’ll take another shot at SSSA on the road. STAB fell a goal short in the first meeting, losing 4-3 in a defensive struggle. They’ll need another strong game from the Saints’ defense and goalie Eric Buhle, who had nine saves against Cape Henry to pull off the upset.
“I think a game like this is good for us after a tough loss at Collegiate,” Park said. “It kind of gives us a little confidence back, gives us our swagger back. Then we can kind of use that when we go into St. Stephen’s on Tuesday.”
