Albemarle’s boys lacrosse squad was ready to go against Western Albemarle Friday night, and they looked the part in the first half.
“We were just really pumped up to play them, at least this whole week, maybe more than that,” said Albemarle’s Ian Davis. “We love playing Western.”
The Patriots exploded in the first two quarters and led by seven goals by halftime. While Western strung together a second half run, the Warriors couldn’t dig out and the Patriots snagged a 17-12 victory.
Davis helped trigger the offense in the early going, notching two goals and two assists before the break as Albemarle jumped out to an 11-4 lead. It was a big leap forward for the Patriots who re-tooled the entire offense this year.
“We’re definitely getting more comfortable with each other, the chemistry is building I think,” Davis said. “It’s taken a little bit of time but we’re finally coming together.”
His head coach agreed with Davis’ analysis.
“We moved the ball well and we were aggressive and the middies controlled between the restraining lines–all the things you need to do against a good team to get off to that kind of start they did,” said Albemarle’s Dave King.
In the second half, Western seemed to wake up and get into gear, closing the gap from nine goals after three quarters to just four goals with 8:45 to play. But the Warriors couldn’t keep it going as Albemarle’s defense tightened up.
“I told the guys at halftime even if we lose this game 100-4, I don’t care as long as you go down swinging,” said Western coach Alex Whitten. “Their want for this game in the first half was far superior to ours you could tell that on loose balls.”
Sumner Corbett led the Warriors with three goals and three assists while Clark Sipe also notched a hat trick for Western. Carter Elliot finished with two goals and two assists.
Quinn Garland and Justin Moran scored four goals each for the Patriots. Cameron Green and Justin Peck each had two with Peck dishing out an assist. One of Green’s goals was a particularly savvy one as he streaked in and scooped up a rebound and buried it in the back of the cage before drawing a late hit penalty.
Kyle Seago finished with nine saves in the cage for the Patriots.
Albemarle had to overcome the loss of Nic Chisholm, the team’s regular faceoff man, to pick up the win. Chisholm sustained an injury earlier in the week and may be out for some time, forcing Hunter Johnson into the faceoff role where he was able to hold his own.
“He did a great job…he’s not a faceoff guy by trade but he certainly stepped up and tied guys up,” King said. “We’ll keep working on that.”
The Patriots will take the field again Tuesday as they host St. Christopher’s at 6 p.m. while Western travels to take on Fluvanna the same night.
