Above Kyle Brown and Crosby Matthews have a good battle at the “X”-All photos by Enstone Images

We questioned if one team would have an advantage in this game due to the schedule difference.  This was only Lovett’s third game and LHP is midway through the season.  The question was “rest or rust” for Lovett.  It appears to have been a little bit of both. The story of the first half was the speed of Lake Highland’s play and their dogged determination to win ground balls in the offensive end and give themselves second chance opportunities.  They made goals out of situations when they otherwise would not have even had possessions. Lake Highland won the opening face off and settled in to give us a the first look at the offense. They made a few nice dodges and looked like the plan was to be patient but an errant pass gave the ball to Lovett.  It became obvious that nobody was getting anything easy in this one.

For the first several minutes both teams traded turnovers and clears against heavy rides. Coach Spaulding talked about winning the game “between the boxes” when we spoke to him for our preview and they were making it work.  Lake Highland put the ball on the ground but in one of those “second chance” plays the offensvie ground ball was picked up by Jackson Colling who hit Tiger Graham for the first goal on an unsettled opportunity and gave the first lead of the game to the Highlanders. Griff Caligiuri was off to a fast start as he had two early take aways.  The first when Hughes  Moffett attempted a dodge to the cage and the other after Crosby Matthews won the second face off of the game Caligiuri immediately got the ball back for his team. On LHP’s next possession they earned another second chance shot and only a great save by Richardson prevented the Kyle Richbourg shot from getting in. Lovett made the transition chance work off of the save but a got stuffed by Austin Farwell at the other end. However they rode hard and intercepted the clearing pass  and Jeremy Garr took it home to tie it at 1 with 7:15 left in the first.

Matthews was called for a procedure on the ensuing face off and Done Eidson scored quickly to take the lead for LHP. After another great save by Austin Farwell and the Highlanders were back in the offensive end.   While they put the ball on the ground they out-worked Lovett for the GB and the second chance opportunity was capitalized on by Jake Zerivitz from a pass by Connor Aiello.  That was the third time that the Lake Highland offense was able to pick up an offensive GB and get a shot, scoring on two of the chances. After Lovett was able to kill an LHP extra man effort with 3:30 left in the quarter LHP’s ride earned them yet another second chance on offense.  Jackson Colling fired a sizzler off the right pipe which never slowed down until it was across the track.  Lovett called a dead ball time out to make some defensive changes.  Jackson Colling wasn’t to be slowed down, however, as he made the next one count.  He gave Lake Highland their third goal off of  four second chance opportunities for the Highlanders and gave them a 4-1 lead.

Crosby Matthews came through on the next face off as he hit Baily Taylor for a quick goal to get it to 4-2.  Matthews stayed hot and drew the procedure call on the next face off.  Lovett capitalized to make it 4-3 on a goal by Murphy Lee only seconds later. The next time Lovett touched the ball they sprinted down the field to push the fast break.  The ball came loose but bounced down the string line toward the goal and  Moffett picked it up and put it away to make it 4-4 with 2:02 left.  Lovett had scored three goals in less than 1:30 to tie the game. One minute later Lovett was flagged for an illegal substitution and Tiger Graham was able to convert the EMO as he snuck behind the goal and picked up a feed before he turned the corner to give the first quarter lead to Lake Highland 5-4.  Although the score was close Lake Highland had been the faster, stronger team. The first several minutes of the second quarter saw several transition opportunities and a settled offense chance for both teams.

With roughly four minutes gone in the quarter Adam Strobel made a great take away, two in fact.  He stripped the ball once and it  bounced out of bounds but he got the next one and made a great outlet pass to Don Eidson who took a hit from behind and drew the flag. Jackson Colling made them pay on the assist by Aniello with a rip shot from the top on the EMO making it 6-4. Matthews won the face off and got the ball to the Lovett offense. Farwell made a nice save, Strobel cleared the ball and Spaulding called a time out with 6:59 left in the half. Coming out of the time out the LHP turned it over but a busted clear gave LHP yet another second chance opportunity. Ried Thedford made it work with a dodge down the right alley and a sweet BTB for the goal and a 7-4 lead .

              LHP showed some serious enthusiasm for the ride when Lovett tried to clear the ball after a restart.  They trapped the Lovett ball carrier at the midfield,  finally causing a turnover and getting yet another second chance.  On the next offensive set the ball hit the ground but Kyle Richbourg picked up the ground ball and put it away for the 8-4 lead. Kyle Richbourg turned the corner as he drove from X and was slashed by the defense.  He was able to finish it on the ensuing EMO as he finished on for the goal and gave LHP a 9-4 lead. A nice face off win by the young Kyle Brown gave the Highlanders offense another chance to set up and Jackson Colling worked perfectly off of a Don Eidson pick to finish down the right alley and they pushed the lead 10-4.

Matthews won the next face off but LHP was really swarming the ball with great hustle from the wings and Reid Thedford came up with the loose ball. Thedford ended up with a nice shot on goal but goalie turned him away and it looked like Lovett would get a chance with short time left in the half.  But Griff Caligiuri had one of the best halves we have seen him play and he stopped the ball, picked up the GB, and was somehow able to flip the ball to Farwell while he was under serious duress.  The Highlanders cleared it and called a time out with :34 left in the half.  Caligiuri would end the game with 9 ground balls, 4 forced turnovers and one goal. They worked the ball around and showed good patience as the seconds ticked off the clock.   Finally, Reid Thedford a nice bounce shot to give the Highlanders an 11-4 lead. Going into the half time break. The sophomore Kyle Brown did a great job against Crosby Matthews in the first half as the Delaware commit was only able to get just over 50% winning 8 of 15 for his Lovett Lions.  It was the second chance opportunities that Lake Highland managed to get for themselves that was really the story of the second half.  Great offensive ground ball work and smothering rides  had given them a 36 to 10 shot advantage for the half. The second half would be different as Matthews would get hot at the X and the ball would start bouncing Lovett’s way.  Literally on the opening face off.  The two face off men hit a stale mate and the ball squirted out. Both teams chased the extended ground ball which was kicked, swept, and pushed down the field toward the Lake Highland goal until an LHP players accidentally scooped it into his own goal to make it 11-5 LHP. It would be Lovett who would benefit on another loose ball that made it’s way into the Lions’ offensive corner where Moffet picked it up and beat two LHP defenders as he sprinted to the goal and made it 11-6. For the next several minutes both teams settled into the grind and we were treated to some back and forth play and excellent defense by both teams. Lovett was as determined to push transition as the Highlanders were to slow it down with solid rides and Jackson Colling made a great effort as he scored a take away at the midfield line flipping his opponents stick in the air.  He picked up the ball and moved it over to Reid Thedford who hit the right alley and scored from way outside on the run to bring the score to 12-6. Suddenly Lovett put together a good run with Murphy Lee scoring unassisted followed by an EMO goal for Moffett as he made a great low shot just inside the near pipe. The excellent individual efforts continued for Lovett as Will Russ scored with a quick shot from low on the left wing to make it 12-9.  Shortly after that Justin Garr dodged on when he was matched up on short stick middie and found a great look to make it 12-10. Lake Highland took some wind out of the Lions’ sails by using patient offense and another offensive ground ball.  The ball found it’s way to Don Eidson who took a big shot from 12 yards out to stop the bleeding and make it 13-10. Matthews had been getting hot at the X and was getting rid of the ball quicker to avoid the swarming LHP defenders.  Lovett had also begun stretching the LHP defense in the third quarter dodging higher up and dumping down low quicker as the Lake Highland defense would move to defend. But the Highlanders also began to dodge more from up top as Connor Anniello and Jackson Colling were playing a little two man at the top.  When they tried to take it into the middle the ball hit the ground but Aniello just picked it up fired it finding the back of the net to make it 14-10. It looked as if Lake Highland would survive a not0-so-great quarter and take a 14-10 lead into the fourth as the clock would down to :09.  However, Murphy Lee made two nice split dodges as he hit the string line to make it 14-11 with.  Then Crosby Matthews took the face off down and stuffed it in the goal to make it 14-12 to end the 3rd. LHP only had five shots on goal in the third quarter while Lovett had 8 opportunities. Early in the  fourth quarter both teams traded opportunities and both teams played stellar defense. LHP was able to clear the ball and settle the offense looking for some more two man from the top.   Connor Aniello used some great foot work, getting some good looks with the LHP middies picking for one another trying to get something going from the top. Sophomore Jack Vaugn was getting some long runs with Thedford and Colling in the 4th quarter. After a bit of a scoring drought a fast break ball was dumped off to Griff Caligiuri who was able to put it away on a running shot to make it 15-12 with 4:00 left in the game. Lovett was able to get the ball and call a time out.  But the Lake Highland defense was able to put a stop to any thoughts of a come back as they forced a turnover that was picked up by Farwell.  His outlet pass was turned into a fast break chance that resulted in a Tiger Graham goal. Kyle Brown won the next face and hit Tiger Grahm who found Connor Aniello to ice the game 17-12.  Jake Zerivitz added one more late goal for the 18-12 final.