Freshman Ethan Hockridge stops a potential Latino College Preparatory goal in the Cavs’ last game of the season, May 7.
“The stands were empty,” freshman Benett Sackheim said. “It was cold and raining.”
“We had one sub, since (freshmen) Tristann (Dias) and Ben (Miner) were gone.”
But luckily for the lacrosse team, junior Emil Erickson (who is not a member of the team), stepped in to help in the Cavs’ last game of the season, May 7.
And on the other side, the Latino College Preparatory Golden Eagles were in an even worse situation.
Having no subs at all, they were crushed by the Cavs, 11-3.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t a sure victory from the minute the Golden Eagles arrived on the Country Day green after a nearly two-hour drive from San Jose.
At the end of the first quarter, the Cavs were leading only 2-1.
But then the Cavs picked up speed while the Golden Eagles tired out.
The Cavs found a way to render the Golden Eagles’ defense useless: do more passing plays.
“They played a zone defense,” head coach Brooke Wells said, “so we had to adjust our offense.
“We started passing really well. We would do two versus one, and that’s very bad for the other team, since if you can get more offensive players than defense players in a zone, it overwhelms the zone.
“They weren’t able to adjust to that at all.”
The Cavs fight for a loose ball.
Most of the other teams the Cavs played this season utilized a man-defense, which requires less passing to teammates and more dodging opponents.
“We’ve been dodging a lot,” Wells said. “But in zone you need to beat them with a pass and not a dodge.”
So plays were implemented to help the Cavs achieve their goal.
Their offensive change proved to overwhelm the Golden Eagles.
By halftime, the Cavs were up, 6-1.
“After we were up by seven goals,” Sackheim said, “Wells told us not to laugh or make any jokes about it, to stay professional.”
Wells also decided to relax things after halftime.
“We slowed it down afterwards,” Wells said. “We switched up our defensive players and put them on offense. (Sophomore) Bryce (Longoria) scored on that wheel (a type of passing play).”
This was Longoria’s first goal of the season. The lead scorer was Sackeim (4), while sophomore Theo Kaufman, junior Aidan Cunningham and Erickson each scored two goals.
According to Wells, Erickson was “a natural.”
And that’s exactly what Wells will need for next year’s lacrosse team.
“We are a good team,” Wells said. “A lot of players who had no experience learned to play – and played very well.
“We need to recruit some more people, (and) have more players.
“Next year we will try to build on our success, play some more in the fall and build more momentum.”
—By Chardonnay Needler
