Above – Austin Farwell makes a save for the Highlanders.  All Photos courtesy of Enstone Images

This game featured two teams with excellent offenses but neither team looked interested in slowing things down to showcase a little six on six.  This turned into a transition slug fest and it was fun to watch. Tyler Liotta (Hofstra,) the dynamic face of specialist for IMG, started the game off the way he does so often.  Winning the ball and fast breaking it straight down the field.  However, the ball was mishandled on the pass and the ground ball was picked up by Austin Farwell and sent the other direction.  The ball was turned over by LHP and it came rushing back to Farwell.  And so it continued.

An early EMO for IMG was not converted and the transition game continued.  After about four minutes Lake Highland’s Don Eidson must have run about a mile and a half without coming off the field and Austin Farwell and come up huge three times with great saves on shots by shooters like Tahoka Nanticoke and Ben French, no easy task. Finally Reid Thedford forced a short bounce shot up and past Adam Getty for the first goal of the game to put Lake Highland up by one.  That was followed up shortly with an EMO goal by Jake Zerivitz on a Kyle Richbourg feed.  Lake Highland would be effective on the EMO most of the evening. In a play that is indicative of the constant pressure brought by IMG for the full 48 minutes of the game, Austin Farwell made a great save on a shot by Nanticoke.  But Nanticoke would not give up on the play and was able to knock down the clearing pass giving himself a second chance, one he made count to cut the LHP lead in half.

Both teams were able to establish some offense as the first quarter seemed to be going by in hyper-speed.  Neither team was content to get the ball and move it around the perimeter to kill some time.  Both teams constantly threatened with each touch of the ball.  IMG runs a unique box/field lacrosse hybrid offense which takes the two man game to a level most high school defenses just aren’t accustomed to.  Constant off ball cutters and picks can cause havoc in most defenses.  But LHP seemed up to the challenge for much of the game. Finally Ben French fired the ball into a well covered Tehoka Nanticoke. What looked like a bad decision to me was somehow handled and converted to a goal by Nanticoke.  There are not too many junior’s in the country that can handle a pass in traffic like that. He then got off a back handed low shovel shot that I don’t think has a name.

Some more end to end transition followed until Drew Crain intercepted a clearing pass and charged to the pipes and scored the third goal for IMG. Although Lake Highland was down it was clear that Thedford was getting some good match ups.  He was able to get some good looks coming from X as well as dodging from the wings.  The LHP shots were just not finding their marks.  Maybe they had been influenced by the early goal on the bounce shot, but at this point the Highlanders had bounced quite a few shots up and over the cross bar off of the firm, tight natural grass field at IMG. Lake Highland was flagged for a hit from behind on French to give IMG an extra man opportunity.  The Ascenders would make them pay as Ben French took a pass from Cougar Kirby to make it 4-2 IMG.

Between quarters Ben French’s stick was flagged for having a pocket that was too deep.  This gave Lake Highland’s EMO team another opportunity and they converted once again as Richbourg found Jake Zerivitz wide open on the post and he was able to finish. Griff Caligiuri picked up a loose ball and sprinted down the field and found Tiger Grahm who hit the cross pass to Jake Zerivitz and tied the game up. Lake Highland won the ensuing face off and Reid Thedford made another nice dodge.  As his momentum off the shot carried him into the hole he took a scary hit that left him on the ground for a few minutes.  While the game was otherwise well officiated and cleanly played I was surprised at the non-call on a flagrantly late, high hit.  It was a big miss by the officiating crew in an age where player safety is becoming a bigger topic of conversation. IMG’s Robert Hudson ran by his man and got off a nice shot that was turned away by Farwell.  The following clear was turned over and Farwell turned Ben French away on the doorstep.  LHP appeared to be  gaining some success in defending the transition game of IMG while finding some success of it’s own. Miles Brown was able to get free in transition and converted another for LHP after two huge saves by Farwell to make it 5-4 LHP. Bad luck struck the highlanders as an attackman broke his stick on the ride and had to leave the field.  An LHP middie stayed on sides to prevent the flag and in just a few short seconds of confusion Ben French took advantage of the 5 on 6 and found Massi Bucci to tie the game at 5. As the second half started to wind down the speed of the action on the field did not.  Don Eidson caught a very long clearing pass and ran the ball from the midfield line right down the alley and scored on a bounce shot as he went to the ground making it 6-5 LHP.  IMG would answer right back as Tyler Wilkinson made an excellent back door cut and a great catch and shot to the high corner from a Massi Bucci feed to tie it up. LHP took an ill advised shot with 45 seconds left in the half which was easily scooped up by Adam Getty and he cleared the ball.  Once IMG got the ball down on the offensive end of the field they called a time out.  Coach Ryder drew up an effective play during the time out but Farwell was up to the task yet again and the half ended with the game tied at 6. IMG’s Adam Getty had 13 first half saves and several more LHP shots went wide or bounced over the goal.  LHP certainly had some good looks and some improvement in shooting percentage was certainly a topic of half time conversation. LHP’s Austin Farwell made 10 first half saves but IMG’s impressive ride was creating some second chance opportunities for the Ascenders. Tyler Liotta won the 2nd half face-off and hit Tehoka Nanticoke for the go ahead goal 8 seconds into the half. As more and more guys are specializing at the FOGO position there are quite a few good face-off guys out there.  But Tyler Liotta goes to the cage on just about every face off win.  He is dangerous due to his speed, he can shoot the ball well, and he is unselfish.  Lake Highland’s guys did a good job against him, but every ball he won turned into an opportunity.  With finishers like French and Nanticoke, a FOGO like Liotta is a big weapon. On the next IMG possession another second chance opportunity for IMG turned into a goal.  Massi Bucci picked up a ground ball in the hole, spun around and hit Mitch Laffin for the 8th goal for IMG. For the next couple of minutes as IMG had a two goal lead it almost looked like they were gaining the upper hand.  Lake Highland was having some difficulty finding good chances to get the offense clicking in the second half due to Liotta’s face offs and IMG’s defensive pressure.  It looked like another quick goal for IMG as Nanticoke had a point blank shot but Farwell made another great save. For the next couple of minutes both teams traded blows going absolutely all out.  They traded clearing attempts and great rides going end to end with the ball until finally, Ben French got control of the ball and put it away for an 9-6 lead. In one of the more interesting plays of the evening Kyle Richbourg played some cat and mouse from behind the goal, finally teasing the defender to come after him.  As soon as his defender committed to the right,  he went left up to the island for the score and a late hit put him on the ground but gave LHP the ball and an EMO. In a rare mistake on the EMO, the Highlanders turned it over and IMG got the ball down to Bucci who made a huge underhand rip shot to make it 10-7 on the short handed opportunity.  However, Lake Highland would still make something out of it as Jake Zerivitz was found by Jackson Colling on the post all alone just off the post once again to make it 10-8. A push called against the Lake Highland defense gave the Highlanders a chance to answer back with their own short handed goal.  An errant pass went to the midfield line where Reid Thedford made a great ground ball play to get the ball and sprinted to the goal for the 9th LHP goal. Late in the third quarter Lake Highland found themselves two men down and IMG took advantage of the 6 on 4 as Ben French made it 11-9.  Then  Nanticoke got the ball on a hard pass by Drake Roy with .6 seconds left on the clock to make it 12-9 IMG at the end of three. Down by three to start the fourth quarter Kyle Brown came in and won the opening face off to get the Lake Highland offense a chance to get rolling again. Thedford and Eidson played some good two man game at the top but nice defense by IMG shut it down and they were unable to generate any good opportunities with it. A turnover sent it back down to the IMG end of the field where LHP’s defense was up to the task and got the ball back. Tiger Grahm was able to put a stop to any thoughts of an IMG run to make it 12-10 on an assist by Jake Zerivitz. This was followed up by another great individual effort by Kyle Richbourg who just decided to get it done.  He made it look easy as he ran by his defender and closed it to 12-11.  Kyle Brown came up big again at the face off X with a well timed win and put his team’s offense back to work.  With 5:36 left in the game Thedford extended the Highlanders run to three goals and tied it up after his team picked up a loose offensive ground ball and he took advantage of the unsettled opportunity. Tyler Liotta went straight to the pipes on the next face off and put it in the net but it was called off on a crease violation.  LHP got the ball back and escaped a close one.  They got a great look at the other end but Adam Getty rejected it. On a restart IMG pulled a well executed hidden ball trick. While the LHP defenders slid to Mitch Laffin as he dodged to the goal, Tehoka Nanticoke walked in the with ball and scored.  Thehoka followed that up with another transition goal to make it 14-12. Some more great back and forth play ensued and IMG was called for a hold with 2:36 left in the game.  They managed to kill the penalty but just as the sixth defender re-entered the game Thedford got a nice dodge from the top and forced a great 5 hole save by Getty. With just 17 seconds left Connor Aniello scored to close the distance to a single goal and brought up a crucial face off.  Tyler Liotta was up the challenge this time and went straight down the strangling with the ball and dumped it off to Nanticoke once again for his 7th goal of the game with 9.4 left on the clock. Neither team could make anything out of the next face off and the game ended with a 15-13 IMG win. IMG Head Coach Mike Ryder was happy with his teams energy coming out of the half.  “I think energy-wise and confidence-wise coming out and scoring six goals in the third quarter was huge for us.” “Even though we got hit with some penalties and let them back in late in the game I thought we executed on offense extremely well.”  Of the play of Austin Farwell in the goal for LHP he said, “I see our guys in practice everyday.  To come out and have a great day in the goal like that against these guys is huge.  I think that is what teams have to do against us, come out and make some saves and win some face offs.” Both teams will now move on to some more challenges.  IMG heads to Jupiter tonight where they face yet another great defense and Viper Scheele, a goalie who will no doubt prove a big challenge to the IMG shooters.  Lake Highland prepares to host a very good Lovett (GA) team at home on Friday night. Tehoka Nanticoke finished the night with 7 goals and Ben retina had 3 goals and 2 assists.  Bucci had 2 goals, 2 assists and Crain, Wilkinson, and Laffin all had a goal.  For Lake Highland Jake Zerivitz scored 4 goals and added an assist.  Richbourg had 2 and 2 while Thedford scored a hat trick.  Tiger Grahm, Miles Brown, Don Eidson, and Connor Aniello all scored once.