The Archbishop Spalding boys lacrosse team’s day was summed up in the first 10 seconds of Friday afternoon’s matchup with Hill Academy (Canada).
The Pride scored just nine seconds into the game and continued to score goals in bunches throughout the contest, besting the host Cavaliers, 16-5.
“We’ve got a young team,” said Spalding;s first-year head coach Ricky Schwartzberg. “A lot of the older guys on the team don’t have a lot of varsity experience…we got a good lesson today. We got a really good butt-kicking.”
Kyle Whitlow scored off the opening face-off, while teammates Zach Miller and Zach Herreweyers followed with back-to-back goals to put Hill ahead, 3-0, with 8:25 to play in the first quarter.
The team from Ontario, which lost to No. 3 Calvert Hall by 12 goals on yesterday, has four players set to play Division-I lacrosse in the States next year in Bryan Cole (Maryland), Rielly O’Connor (Georgetown), Sean Young (Towson) and Hank Altschuler (Hofstra).
Spalding (0-2) didn’t back down however and went on a three-goal run of their own. Captain Matt Franchak scored an unassisted goal with a nice move to his left, beating Pride goalie Hank Altschuler low.
A couple minutes later, midfielder Will Hirshmann sent the ball to Bobby Jones, who ripped one from 15-yards out to beat the goalie on a man-up opportunity. Hirshmann evened the game when he scored an unassisted goal at the end of the first quarter.
But it was more of the same at the start of the second quarter. This time, the Pride scored 28 seconds into the frame and added consecutive goals to reclaim the lead, 6-3, at the 9:07 mark.
“Basically, we just got outworked on the ground balls and that’s what lost us the game. They got every ground ball,” said Franchak. “It was just a bad all-around effort and it’s not going to happen again.
Franchak answered with his second goal, assisted by Jones, but that would be the Cavaliers’ last score until midway through the fourth quarter when Nick Altman finished unassisted but by that time, Hill Academy already had a 16-4 advantage.
“Groundballs, face-offs, things that you try to teach guys, were the [difference] right there,” Schwartzberg explained.
He added: “One of the things that we made a commitment to this season with our inexperience is ‘building blocks.’ We’re building a foundation and trying to get these guys better.”
Spalding rebounds on Monday with a home game against DeMatha before entering the MIAA A Conference schedule.
“Right now, the team has been jelling pretty good but we let them get a couple of goals and we started to break down,” said freshman goalie Andrew Dirks, who finished with eight saves after entering the game in the second quarter. “We just need to realize our mistakes and not let them happen again.”
Hill Academy (Canada) 16, Archbishop Spalding 5
HA 3 5 7 1 — 16
AS 3 1 0 1 — 5
Goals: Hill–Herreweyers 6, Whitlow 4, Cole 2, Miller, O’Connor, Thomas, Ranoldi; Spalding–Franchak 2, Jones, Hirshmann, Altman.
Assists: Hill–Whitlow 2, Miller, Cole, O’Connor, Hazlewood, Keenan; Spalding–Hirshmann, Jones.
Saves: Hill–Altschuler 7; Spalding–Buss 2, Dirks 8, Hess 2.
