Last year, Brooke Point was the thorn in the Albemarle boys lacrosse team’s side, topping them in all three meetings. Thanks to a great defensive effort in all four quarters and just enough offense in a game where both squads struggled with costly turnovers, the Patriots pulled that thorn out and topped the Hawks in their first contest at home with a 7-5 win.
“We had a rough night all across the board, some dropped balls, forced turnovers and Brooke Point played its heart out so it was a hotly contested game,” said Albemarle coach Pat McAdams. “Before the game we talked about getting better as a team and who we are. You can’t blow the doors off every week, every game. You’re going to have down days and the guys in the locker room were talking about it, about how those games are key. You’ve got to win the tough ones.”
The game looked put away minutes into the fourth when Ben Kyriacopulous put the Patriots up a comfortable 7-2. But after more than three quarters of struggling to score, thanks in large part to a great third quarter from Albemarle’s goalkeeper Jake Huber and the long poles in front of him, Brooke Point came to life in the last eight minutes of the fourth to make matters interesting.
Scoring three goals in a matter of four minutes to cut the deficit to two, the Hawks and Patriots spent the last three minutes of the game trading turnovers, collecting penalties and making plays on defense. After the brief scoring spurt, Albemarle’s defense came up with the plays that put them out in front during the first three quarters of play to wrap up the much sought after win.
“I felt like their defense held us pretty well but (after the first quarter) we were finally able to get the ball in an score in big moments,” said Albemarle’s Matt Crist.
Albemarle dominated the first quarter by taking a 4-1 lead and extending the lead to four goals between the second and third quarters to set up the busy fourth.
“It was a lot of fun and we went out there in the fourth trying to stay cool and play well,” Kryiacopulous said. “It felt like they were going to come back there in the end, but we knew the whole time that we could pull it off.”
Not surprisingly in a low scoring game, the offensive contributions were wide spread with Kyriacopulous and freshman Crist leading the way with two goals each. Steven Mastrapolo chipped in a goal and assist to give the Albemarle attackmen a total of 5 goals and four assists. Midfielder Michael Bernardino also had a two point night with a goal and a helper. Tyler Johnson scored a goal as well while fellow midfielders Nick Pegg had an assist to account for all of the Patriots offense.
On defense, goaltender Huber was huge as racked up nine saves. And with outstanding stick work from his defense, he faced very few shots in the first 36 minutes of play.
“In a five goal game, obviously the defense played great but Jake also played great for us and made a lot of key stops,” McAdams said. “Without one or two of the stops we’re talking about a much tighter game. Without three or four, we’re looking at a loss. So he and defense deserve a lot of credit.”
Albemarle (7-0, 4-0 Commonwealth District) next plays at North Stafford on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
