Coming off of a great battle at IMG the Highlanders now set their sites on one of Georgia’s premier programs, The Lovett School.  Lovett was 18-4 in 2014 and is off to a 2-0 start this season.  Face off is at 7:00 and this should be another great game.

Lovett boasts some elite level talent including three players who were on the Under Armour South Roster for last summer’s Under Classmen games.  Defenseman Cal Pierce (BU), Midfielder Will Russ (UVA), and Face Off middie Crosby Matthews (Delaware.)  Also keep an eye on attackman Hughes Moffett and defenseman Austin Eiserman (Mt. Saint Mary’s.)

This game brings up some interesting match ups.  Will Russ is a great two-way middie as is Lake Highland’s Don Eidson (Delaware.)  Pierce and Eiserman are likely to see a few different match ups throughout the game as Kyle Richbourg (Salisbury) and Reid Thedford may spend time at both the attack position or sub in on the midfield unit.  Jake Zerivitz had a huge game against IMG with a four goal effort and emerged as the Highlanders most accurate shooter on that evening.  Tiger Grahm and Connor Aniello are also a big part of that attack unit so the Lovett defenders are likely to see at leas five different attackmen this evening. Offensively Lovett will have to get Moffett and crew working against Griff Caligiuri (High Point) , Adam Strobel (Rollins), and Scott Duncan.  This defense has held all but two of their eight opponents to under 10 goals so far this season.  If Lovett relies on dodging with their attack unit we have to think the advantage will go to the LHP defense.

The face off guys for Lake Highland Prep did a respectable job against one of Florida’s best in IMG’s Tyler Liotta with Kyle Brown winning some important possessions down the stretch to give Lake Highland a chance at the win.  They’ll have to be ready to do it again tonight against Matthews. Lake Highland shot very well in their victory over Jupiter putting 25 of 38 on goal.  Not so much against IMG when them missed the goal with nearly half of their shots and sent too many bounce shot attempts at the feet of Adam Getty.  I feel confident that this issue has been addressed in practice the last couple of days. There are some other intangibles tonight.  Lovett is only two games into the season but one game was a narrow victory over John’s Creek, a serious Georgia powerhouse program.  Lake Highland is now halfway through the season and has been thoroughly battle tested.  Which team is in a better position at this point?  Lake Highland is still healthy so one has to wonder if Lovett is “rested or rusted.”  We can safely assume they will be ready to go tonight. LHP’s Coach Chris Spaulding faces a fellow Loyola Blakefield Alumni in Jim Buczek.  They coached the Under Armour South team together in 2012.  They know each other and Spaulding knows a few of these Lovett players.  We think the familiarity will produce a great game on the field.  No surprises means the guys will have to get it done where it counts, on the field. Lovett will play Lake Brantley tomorrow at 1:00 also at Lake Highland Prep.  This is a very interesting match up as well.   Lake Brantley is off to a very quiet 6-1 start.  They haven’t played one of Central Florida’s tougher schedules but did pull off a gutsy overtime win at Bishop Moore and their only loss came to Seminole (tied for 9th in the Al Packer Ford coaches poll.)  Lovett starts a very difficult four game stretch for the Patriots as they follow tomorrow’s game up with Lake Mary, IMG, and Lake Highland.