While plenty of improvement still needs to be made, the Bishop Ludden boys lacrosse team has taken all kinds of strides improving upon its 4-13 mark of a season ago.
As an example of this, the 2-6 Gaelic Knights nearly knocked off Skaneateles Monday night at Clary Middle School, falling to the Lakers 9-8 in overtime.
Playing a near-perfect first quarter, Ludden shut out Skaneateles and led, 3-0, then matched whatever the Lakers produced in the second period to take a 6-3 advantage to the break.
Gradually, Skaneateles adjusted its defense and began to clamp down, as Ludden managed just one goal in each of the last two periods, just as the Lakers were rallying.
By the end of regulation, the Gaelic Knights found itself in an 8-8 tie, and an overtime goal by the Lakers decided the game.
Brad Kirch hurt Skaneateles in a big way, leading Ludden with five goals. Matt Catalano, Colin Lynch and Casey Christo had the other tallies, with Connor Brown earning two assists and Sean Conners adding a single assist.
Shawn Lynch, in the net, kept the Gaelic Knights in front much of the way and recorded 19 saves, Eric Richards led Skaneateles with three goals and one assist, as Kyle Baier (one goal, two assists) and Keith Buehler (one goal, three assists) also had big outings.
This came two days after Ludden beat Clinton 14-6 for its second win of the season, leading most of the way.
Kirch had five goal and two assists, as Catalano gained five assists to go with his pair of goals. Jake Gilchrist also scored twice, with Lynch, Christo, Mike Rommell, Kyle Hotaling and Taylor Disco landing single goals and Brown earning three assists.
