Thanks to Lisa Erdmann for the pictures!   It was 3-3 at halftime and Benjamin’s offense was struggling to finish the looks they were getting against the Barron Collier zone, partly because a number of good looks were shot wide and partly because BC goalie Jackson Lucarelli was coming up big.  Barron’s offense was patient and looking for defensive mistakes to take advantage of.  Benjamin out shot BC 19-7 in the half but only 10-6 in shots on goal and BC was more efficient in converting. In the second half it was a different story as BC only put away one of the eleven shots they attempted while Benjamin started to find different shooting angles and started to convert them.  They snatched momentum away early in the period and carried that through the entire second half.  Each team was missing a top player to injury and it probably hurt BC more.  Star attackman Connor McGraw was injured in the first round game against Gulf Coast and Benjamin’s key defender Shane Campbell has missed the entire playoff run.  Benjamin’s defense was able to overcome that more than Barron’s offense. Barron  also struggled at times in transition and those extra possessions hurt in the second half.  Benjamin goalie Austin Michels turned it up in the second half with 5 saves, most of them off good BC looks when momentum might have been shifted.  But as the half wore on Benjamin pretty much clamped down on the game to move on to a final four rematch with St. Thomas. For Barron it marks their fifth straight year of making it to the Final Eight round, a remarkable brand of consistency.  This senior class of players have played a lot of lacrosse over the years and I wish them the best in their futures.  And a shout out to their Girls’ program for their tremendous win just about an hour north of this one.     Benjamin took the lead at the 8:35 mark as Will Nicklaus found Blake Erdmann after circling behind the left side of the cage with the feed to the cutting Erdmann in the middle for the low shot.  Two minutes later it was Peter Reed working slowly down the right alley and firing to the low left corner for 2-0.  Barron’s Pat Mahoney then worked behind the net towards left GLE and he found Tad Demale on the left alley cut for the left hand shot to the top far side to cut it to 2-1.  Then at 2:08 BC tied it at 2 as Demale picked up a loose ball off the rebound and circled the cage to the left side and found JJ Andino on the left wing for the step down shot to the right side. Nearly five minutes into the second it was BC taking the lead as Mahoney drew the slide on left GLE and his pass up the wing found Jake Scuderi for the low right hand shot from 10 yards for 3-2.  Then at 5:37 it was Christian Cropp going down the right alley, leaning in and finding the cage left side hip high to tie it up at 3-3 and that’s how the half ended. 27 seconds into the third it was Cropp again as Erdmann found him from left behind on the left wing for the step down to the top right corner.  Then at 8:47 it was Griffin Bowie taking the Nicklaus pass in the same fashion on the left wing and hitting the same spot for 5-3.  Erdmann stretched it to 6-3 at 4:36, finishing in the middle of the defense after taking the Ryan Kelly top left feed as Benjamin continued to find success from that wing.  Less than a minute later Erdmann scored his third by finishing the fast break off the Bowie left wing feed down low to make it 7-3 after the third.       BC’s Mahoney gave Barron some glimmer of hope early in the fourth, taking the right GLE feed on the right wing from Kuper Jenks-Lawson for the step down low at 10:39 but a little over a minute later it was Cropp with his third as he took a left wing feed and went with a split dodge towards the cage and finishing high to cut any momentum change for 8-4.  Erdmann added his fourth with 3:45 left off the Michael Buttelman feed to finish off the fast break and Kelly and Buttleman teamed up 26 seconds later to ice it, making the final 10-4.     Friday will be epic.  Local fans should be aware that according to the FHSAA home page bracket the STA-Benjamin game will be the 5:00 start on Friday, not the late game. Let’s make Jupiter next weekend a tough ticket to get!   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  9 Each Shots:  Benjamin 39-18 Shots on Goal:  Benjamin 22-12 Turnovers:  Barron 18-10 Penalties:  2 each   Individual Statistics   Benjamin Blake Erdmann  4G/1A Christian Cropp  3G Ryan Kelly and Griffin Bowie  1G/1A each Peter Reed  1G Will Nicklaus and Michael Buttelman with 2A each Austin Michels with 8 saves   Barron Collier Pay Mahoney  1G/2A Ted Demale  1G/1A JJ Andino and Jake Scuderi with 1G each Kuper Jenks-Lawson  1A Jackson Lucarelli with 12 saves   Thanks to Coach Rye and Coach Sivillo for talking to me before and after the game.