Don Glover put his Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team through what he described as the “toughest week of practice this season.”
After a week-long break from game action, and “Battle of the Bridge” rival Mt. Ararat slated to visit on Friday in Brunswick’s “Senior Night,” there were a lot of distractions.
The hard work paid off for Brunswick in a 14-5 win over the Eagles, giving the Dragons a 9-2 record with their first visit to Morse’s new McMann Field turf slated for today (5 p.m.) in a crossover tilt with the Shipbuilders.
Ian Schlosser won 16 of 18 faceoffs through three quarters, giving Brunswick a large possession advantage.
“We have been riding that horse, with Ian Schlosser phenomenal in faceoffs,” said Glover. “He has an expertise in that, and I have been blessed to have a lot of good faceoff guys. “It doesn’t matter what the record of Mt. Ararat is, and there is always going to be an extra push from them when they play us. I want our guys to focus on us and not focus on the opponent. If we play to our abilities, we come out well. When we don’t, that is when things come out on the wrong end for us.”
“Faceoffs, faceoffs, faceoffs! They owned the faceoffs and we just couldn’t get things going on offense,” said Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell, whose squad fell to 7-4. “They generated many more chances.”
Brunswick’s transition game was solid from the outset, with Cam Glover tallying a game-high seven goals as the Dragons claimed a 14- 1 edge through three frames.
“This was a good team effort, and the guys got me a lot of open looks, with assists on many of those goals,” said Cam Glover. “We are a runand gun team, and we live and die by transition. When it is clicking, it is a lot of fun and we are a good team.”
“He has done a really nice job of transitioning from an attackman to a midfielder, and is very gifted with an open-field dodge,” said Don Glover of his son. “We have a very unselfish team that makes a lot of extra passes, and he was on the receiving end of a lot of really good feeds tonight.”
Brunswick leads
Matt Brooks opened the scoring for the Dragons 1:11 in, finishing off a pass from Ryan Black, and two minutes later Cam Glover was setup by Lucas McCue for a 2-0 Brunswick lead.
Mt. Ararat pushed back, getting a Kyle Lussier goal with 5:45 remaining in the first quarter, but the Dragons answered with a pair of goals (Josh Dorr from Owen Ginty; and Cam Glover from TJ Sullivan) for a 4-1 advantage after one frame.
Brunswick seized control in the second quarter, outscoring the Eagles 4-0 for an 8-1 halftime lead.
“We wanted to win the third quarter, and we changed things up,” said Haskell. “They were running a zone, something that is rare for a coach Glover team, and they ran it really well and scored off of transition.”
“Obviously, transition is a theme that we work on, pushing the ball a little bit faster, with us stepping on the gas and getting up the field quickly,” said Don Glover.
“They were really locked in with their zone, and we just couldn’t crack it,” said Lussier, who scored twice in the final frame to finish with three goals. “The last time we played them, we were down a few players. This time, we were able to play a good fourth quarter to finish strong. We are leaving with some momentum.”
“They’re a good team and we fear them. We take no one lightly, play hard and work in transition, just like every game,” said Cam Glover.
Brooks finished with two goals and two assists for Brunswick, with Sullivan scoring a goal and dishing out three helpers. Black, Tyler Hillis and Ginty picked up a goal and an assist apiece, and McCue dished out three assists.
Jack Mickles had two goals and an assist for Mt. Ararat, with Kellan Radulski adding an assist.
Mt. Ararat goaltender Connor Read turned aside 12 Brunswick shots, while Dragon netminders Chris MrVichin (four saves) and Logan Ouellette (five saves) shared the goaltending duties for the hosts.
Brunswick 14,
Mt. Ararat 5
At Brunswick
Mt.Ararat—1004— 5
Brunswick—4460—14
Goals — (MA) Kyle Lussier 3,
Jack Mickles 2; (B) Matt Brooks
2, Ryan Black, Cam Glover 7,
Josh Dorr, Owen Ginty, TJ Sullivan, Tyler Hillis.
Assists — (MA) Kellan Radulski, Jack Mickles; (B) Tyler Hillis,
TJ Sullivan 3, Owen Ginty,
Lucas McCue 3, Ryan Black,
Matt Brooks 2.
Shots — Brunswick 38, Mt.
Ararat 16.
Saves — (MA) Connor Read
12; (B) Chris MrVichin 4, Logan
Ouellette 5.
Man-up opportunities — Mt.
Ararat 0-4; Brunswick 4-6.
Records — Brunswick 9-2, Mt.
Ararat 7-4.
Up next for Mt. Ararat — Tuesday at Gardiner.
Up next for Brunswick — Today
at Morse.
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