It took Bonny Eagle a few minutes to warm up against Lake Region on Friday evening, but once they did, they battered the visiting Lakers.

Stephen Estes inched the Scots ahead early and Antonio Bruni hashed all five of his goals in the second half to lead Bonny Eagle in cannonballing Lake Region 16-6.

“It’s always nice to get a win,” said Scots head coach Patrick DeBenedictis. “We played pretty well, our game: we played straight-up lacrosse. We missed a lot of opportunities, we took a lot of opportunities. Even though we’re not shooting very well, we shot enough to make a little difference.”

Bonny Eagle jumps to 3-4 on the season. The Scots have a tenuous grip on the seventh-seed – the last playoff position – in A West at the moment. The Lakers, meanwhile, slip to 0-7. The team is facing some struggles this year, including a short roster, and linger in B West’s last-place slot.

Neither team managed to find the back of the net for nearly half a quarter Friday. When someone finally scored, it was Estes, grabbing the first of his three goals on a Zack Gryskwicz feed from behind the Lakers’ cage for a quick redirect and 1-0.

The score lingered there for almost six more minutes, until Estes turned a nice steal on a Lake Region clear attempt, then passed to Kyle Whitman, near the top-center of the Lakers’ zone. Whitman wasted no time dishing back to Estes, who fired from out-left and beat Lake Region keeper Ethan Green once again. 2-0.

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The Lakers answered early in the second quarter, Taylor Davis scoring low after a slick spin move from maybe 50 feet out, but the goal seemed to jostle the Scots out of complacence, and they soon went on a run. Gryskwicz, Tanner McClure and Cam Day all notched points as the half wound down, giving Bonny Eagle a solid, if not insurmountable, advantage going into the break.

Gryskwicz scored to open the third, but then the Lakers spoke up again, Zeke Tocci scooping the ball out of a scramble in front of the Bonny Eagle cage and slipping it past goalie Baker Ridell, but that just fueled another Scots flurry of tallies.

Despite the lopsided score, DeBenedictis noted a number of areas his squad needs to improve in.

“We still have a lot of parts of our game that are underdeveloped,” he said, “particularly off-ball movement, anticipation of situation versus reaction. That’s the part we need to fix the most. We [initiated more] contact today, which was good, because normally, we’ve kind of shied away from contact. It’s nice to see some guys playing a little more physical than they normally do.”

“We still need to grow, particularly what happens away from the ball. Every team knows what’s going on with the ball, for the most part; it’s the anticipation of guys back-dooring, it’s the anticipation of slides and second slides – awareness of the field. Offensively it’s the same thing: Make things happen off the ball. Move your feet, when you don’t have the ball. Right now, we still kind of stand around a little bit.”

It was 10-2 with nine minutes to play in the fourth before Lake Region scored again. Evan Kellough matched Estes’ earlier play, stealing prettily on Scots’ attempt to clear, then scooting back in to best Riddell for 10-3.

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Again, however, the point proved merely an oasis for the Lakers, lost in a desert of Bonny Eagle scores. Lake Region would add three more – by Hunter Russo, Davis, and Dylan Greenlaw – before the final buzzer, but Bruni would add that many himself. The Lakers simply couldn’t keep pace, and ultimately fell 16-6.

In addition to Bruni’s five goals, he also earned four assists. Estes finished with a trio of goals and one assist, Gryskwicz with his two goals and three assists as well, Whitman with a goal and two assists, McClure with a goal and an assist, Day with two goals, Ben Steeves and Aaron Rae with a goal apiece, and Spencer Shields with an assist.

In addition to their goals, Russo, Kellough and Tocci each assisted once.

“Antonio plays a lot; he stays on the field a long time,” said DeBenedictis. “He’s one of those guys, he’ll take a lot of aches both ways. He’s a valuable player.”

DeBenedictis also praised Day and goalie Jared LeClerc, but stressed the W belonged to the Scots as a unit above all else:

“Defensively, our goalie – who, this is the first game he’s actually started – Jared LeClerc, he played a really nice game. Our faceoff guy, Cam Day, dominated from the faceoff X. [But] it was more of a good team effort, especially riding, taking advantage of some opportunities to cause some turnovers.”

“I’m excited,” he said. “I think we have a good opportunity to make the playoffs. The kids are staying pretty much together as a team. That’s really the most important thing to me, that they’re enjoying the experience, they’re learning, and they play every game – whether we’re up by 10 or down by 10 – till the end.”

Bonny Eagle visited Portland on Wednesday, May 20, after the Lakes Region Weekly’s print deadline. They host TA on Friday, the 22nd, at 6 p.m.

Lake Region hosted Waynflete on Tuesday the 19th, also after the Lake Region Weekly’s print deadline. The Lakers welcome Kennebunk on Friday.

The Scots’ Antonio Bruni dodges around Laker Mason Laplante Friday evening. Bruni had five goals and four assists in Bonny Eagle’s 16-6 win.Laker Taylor Davis carries on the attack against the Scots’ Aaron Rae at Bonny Eagle on Friday.Taylor Davis unwinds into a shot at Bonny Eagle on Friday.Ron Hall rips a shot toward the Bonny Eagle net on Friday evening.Kyle Whitman cuts upfield against visiting Lake Region on Friday. Whitman had a goal and two assists in the Scots’ 16-6 victory over the Lakers.Laker Ben Moen pressures Tanner McClure’s hands at Bonny Eagle on Friday.

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