Last season, 16 seniors led the Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team to the State Class A championship.
This year, those seniors are replaced by this year’s new-look Dragons who are looking to put their own stamp on the program’s success.
Brunswick took a big step toward that Thursday afternoon, jumping out to a 4-0 lead and never looking back en route to a 17-7 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win over rival Mt. Ararat.
“It has been an interesting transformation after graduating that many players, but the thing is this group is hard working and sticking to the basics, very conservative play in the midfield and good battles,” said Brunswick coach Don Glover. “We have always been a transition team and we are using that engine to go.”
“We had a lot of confidence today,” said Jameson Cyr, who had a game-high five goals and three assists in the win. “Going into the season, we felt that we are the underdogs after all the senior losses. We wanted to come out and prove ourselves and we did that today. We are trying to continue the positivity of last year. We are keeping good attitudes.”
Cyr tallied his first two goals in the late first-quarter run and assisted on an Aiden Glover goal with less than one second remaining in the first frame.
“We shot ourselves in the foot and were playing faster than we were thinking,” said Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell. “They did a good job in transition and they were hitting the corners. When we went into transition, we lost the ball or hit the post.”
The Eagles seemed to find a bit of footing in the second quarter, receiving a goal each from Andrew Waltz, Mark Abreu and goaltender Parker Lacey, who carried the ball end-to-end before slipping a shot past Brunswick starting goaltender Logan Ouellette (one save).
“We changed our clear-up, knowing Brunswick likes to have the goalie as the ball handler,” said Haskell of Lacey’s goal. “We gave him the safest route, and we told Parker if they don’t pick you up, go to goal and take a shot. Definitely was one of the things to smile about today.”
Despite the three second-quarter scores, the Eagles failed to slow down the Dragons, who put up five more tallies for a 12-3 halftime lead.
“Some thought with all the new additions to the new roster that it might be doom and gloom,” said Coach Glover, whose Dragons host Lewiston on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. “It is a test of our program, and we have those kids that are stepping up and willing to learn. And, it is a testament to the coaching staff. These kids are excited to go forward, and us coaches are happy to be going back to basics. Last year, it was a team of calculus, where this year we are at Algebra One. It is great!”
The beat goes on
Brunswick continued to plow forward as Christian Glover and Cole Hillis controlled the middle of the field. Palizay, Nate Granholm and Max Gramins scored consecutive goals for a 15-3 Dragons lead before the Eagles pushed back behind goals from Elliot Pressman and Sawyer Watson to close to 16-5 through 36 minutes.
Don Glover continued to
shout out instructions to his Dragons, looking for ways to improve his team’s play.
“We don’t look at the scoreboard, we need to work on how we are doing and getting better,” said Glover. “We are going to make mistakes. We have kids in different positions, many who had never started a varsity game. When you have a rival, you know everyone on both sides will come out hard, no matter the records. These kids came out relaxed, a sunny day and not in the gym.”
“You have to have a short memory. We will load up now and get ready for Messalonskee next week (Wednesday, 6 p.m.),” said Haskell.
Pressman paced the Eagles with two goals and an assist, while Watson picked up one goal and a helper. Hank Gilson added a late goal for Mt. Ararat, while Lacey turned aside 13 shots. Steven Schuman led the Eagles with six ground balls.
Andrew Eno picked up a goal and three assists for Brunswick, with Clark adding a goal and two helpers, Cramins two goals and Henry Doherty one goal and one assist. Christian Glover picked up a game high seven ground balls. Goaltender Jeremy Vuong played the final 16 minutes and turned aside four shots.
Brunswick 17, Mt. Ararat 7
At Topsham
| Brunswick | — | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | — | 17 | |
| Mt. | Ararat | — | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | 7 |
Goals — (B) Christian Glover 3, Josh Clark, Ben Palizay 2, Jameson Cyr 5, Aiden Glover, Henry Doherty, Andrew Eno, Max Gramins 2, Nate Granholm; (MtA) Andrew Waltz, Parker Lacey, Mark Abreu, Sawyer Watson, Elliot Pressman 2, Hank Gilson. Assists — (B) Andrew Eno 3, Henry Doherty, Josh Dorr, Jameson Cyr 3, Josh Clark 2; (MtA) Nick Canter 2, Sawyer Watson, Elliot Pressman. Shots — Brunswick 39, Mt. Ararat 22. Saves — (B) Logan Ouellette 1, Jeremy Vuong 4; (MtA) Parker Lacey 13. Face-offs — Brunswick 14, Mt. Ararat 13. Man-up — Brunswick 1-of-1; Mt. Ararat 1-of-5. Records — Brunswick 2-0, Mt. Ararat 1-1. Up next for the Dragons — Wednesday at home vs. Lewiston, 6:30 p.m. Up next for the Eagles — Wednesday at Messalonskee, 6 p.m.
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