Hunted all through the spring, the Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse team would finally get caught — for one cold afternoon, anyway.
LaFayette was the team that finally put an end to the Brothers’ dreams of an undefeated season last Wednesday afternoon, using a first-half offensive surge and a full show of poise to beat CBA 14-10.
In doing so, the Lancers avenged an 8-5 loss to CBA on April 12 at Henninger, a game where Jack Harmatuk’s early scoring flurry and Zach Palmieri’s excellent work in goal in the late stages combined to make the difference.
From that point forward, CBA had built its record to 16-0, moving within two games of regular-season perfection. LaFayette, after some shaky play, regained its swagger in the week prior to the rematch by crushing Onondaga and Tully.
As a raw wind whipped across the LaFayette field, the home team immediately put the Brothers on the defensive, Zach Guy scoring 90 seconds into the game.
It was 3-0 before Jovan Miller put CBA on the board, but all that seemed to do was take LaFayette to a higher level. By the second quarter, shots were flying past Palmieri into the net with alarming regularity, and the Brothers found itself in a 9-2 hole. Those nine goals came in less than 15 minutes of game action.
Pushed around, burned on defense, and beaten to most of the ground balls, CBA slowly began to inch back, blanking LaFayette for the rest of the first half and using goals by Miller and Pat Kenville to cut it to 9-4 by halftime.
It got even tighter in the third quarter, thanks to Craig Lange. He scored twice, and fed Devin Daly for another goal, as the Brothers pulled within three, 10-7, and appeared to have the Lancers rattled.
However, LaFayette did not crack. Instead, it made a series of key stops and shut out CBA for a stretch of 12-plus minutes, a long enough time for the lead to go back to 14-8 before the Brothers tacked on a pair of last-minute goals.
Overall, Lange was the biggest threat, scoring four times and adding two assists. Miller had two goals and two assists, while Daly also found the net twice. LaFayette’s defense was all over Harmatuk, holding him to a single goal.
Palmieri, despite his nightmarish start, stayed in for the whole game and finished with 16 saves. Guy was the Lancers’ most consistent threat, finishing with four goals and two assists, while Derek Printup and Josh Greeley each had three goals and one assist.
All this was part of a tough final week of the regular season where CBA already beat Onondaga, 12-3, and will meet Tully on Saturday afternoon.
