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South Lakes lacrosse stumbles in tournament opener
With a three-goal lead after 24 minutes of play Monday night, the South Lakes boys lacrosse team was carrying its own destiny in the palm of its hands.The Seahawks clearly dominated the time-of-possession category, as the ball was on Jefferson's side of the field for much of the first two quarters. It was the opening round of the Liberty District tournament, so the loser would be done for the season. The winner? Bound for the Northern Region tournament.
However, the magic that helped South Lakes win four of its last five games down the stretch ran out in the final two quarters, as Jefferson piled up nine second-half goals en route to an 11-7 victory.
Despite being forced to clean out their lockers for the season, the No. 4 Seahawks had plenty of bright spots on their home field Monday. Junior attack Alex Little netted a hat trick. Junior midfielder Alex Golembiewski, one of four captains on the squad, racked up a goal and two assists. Junior Tyler Harned had a pair of helpers.
"A lot of teams key on two of our leading scorers [Harned and Matt Shinrock], and Alex Little stepped up big tonight," said South Lakes coach Matt Blamey. "We told him that he needs to have a big game, I knew that people were gonna key on Tyler and Matt. But Alex really came up big. He's a solid player, and I'm proud of his performance tonight."
South Lakes finished the regular season 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the district, buoyed by a 4-1 mark down the stretch. It was an improvement from the 2007 campaign's 4-9 finish, but Blamey said the goal of the 2008 squad was to play in the regional tournament.
With just one senior on the team – defender Trevor Cox – South Lakes has the youth and experience to do some damage in the district next season.
"The key was to just get better every day, offer no excuses," Blamey said of this year's squad. "We've learned to play really good lacrosse, it's just playing it for 48 minutes. Hopefully, that comes with experience, these kids have gotten a taste of what it's like to play really well, to score a lot of goals.
"These kids, they work as hard, if not harder, than any team around. I know that they're gonna continue to do so, playing in tournaments in offseason leagues. I just had kids say ... they want to practice tomorrow."
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