For those who are familiar with the game of lacrosse, it is evident that very often the team that ends up on top is the team that is able to maintain the ground balls. Which, subsequently, determined the outcome of the boys’ varsity lacrosse game this Wednesday under the Paly lights between the Menlo-Atherton Bears and the Palo Alto Vikings.
“Ground balls, ground balls, ground balls, it’s like the fundamntal thing every lacrosse coach says, ground balls win games, and clearly it did,” Conover said. “They came up with about 80% of the ground balls, including the face offs it makes that much of a difference.”
Constantly going back and forth, neither of the teams were able to connect, leaving the score 0-0 up until the end of the quarter. With one minute left, Skyler Anderson (’13) gained possession of the ball, assisting Logan Mendenhall (’13) in the first goal of the night. However, with less then seven seconds left, the Bears were able defeat their defenders, to tie up the score at one.
Entering the second quarter, Paly started out on a dominant note looking to take the lead. Zach Levitan (’13), gained the ball and looked to Anderson for a clear goal, putting the Vikings up by one. For the rest of the quarter, the Vikes and the Bears went back forth in a defensive battle. However, neither team was able to find the back of the net.
Entering the third quarter, the Viking defense stepped up, and Quintin Valenti (’16) took to the goal. In his first game as varsity player, both Valenti and the Paly defense were able to execute strong defense, stopping Menlo Atherton’s attack. Â However, despite the attainment by the defense, the Vikings were not able to abide any further, allowing the Bears to score three back to back goals giving them a 4-2 lead over Paly.
Going into the fourth quarter, Vikings looked to rack up some goals in order to take back last year’s rival, to whom they lost in the SCVAL semi-fianls. After much patience and persistence, the Viking attack worked the ball around allowing Anderson to assist Jonny Glazier (’13), who slammed the ball into the back of the net, decreasing the deficit to one.
In an unlucky shot, primarily blocked by Valenti, the Bears were back up by two. Looking to counter, Tully Mcallister (’14) pursued a ground ball, and broke away from two Bear defenders for an easy shot, leaving the Vikes trailing by one, 4-5. In a defensive lapse, Menlo Atherton capitalized, putting them up by two once again . With less than four minutes left, Anderson gained possession, assisting Glazier, in a goal. However, M-A quickly countered, scoring the last goal of the night leaving the final result, 7-5 in the Bears’ favor.
New goalie, Q. Valenti, expresses his sentiments for his first game as a varsity starter.
“Im really excited and it was a lot of fun so im really pumped for the rest of the season,” Valenti said. ” At the varsity level, it’s a lot more competive and fast pace than [junior varsity].”
Despite the tough loss, Conover is satisfied with the way the boys’ played and is optimistic for the 2013 season.
“I was very impressed, I knew it was going to be hard faught game and I knew we were the underdogs, but the guys really did a great job, they played exactly at the level I belived they could,” Conover said. “We have them at the end of the season too so we’ll definitely get them next time around. We lost to those guys (MA) last year in the semis and so our next step is to get out out of the semis and obviously win the championship,” Conover said.
The boys’ will next face off on Monday against Burlingame.
