Senior Tufts-committed midfielder Sam Frisoli (9) moves the ball up the field during St. Sebastian's lacrosse's 13-5 victory against Governor's Academy on Saturday. Photos by Mike Flanagan.
By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The St. Sebastian's varsity lacrosse team played a home-and-home with rival Governor's Academy on Friday and Saturday looking to climb back above .500 following a pair of defeats to Belmont Hill the previous weekend.
After a 17-13 victory at Gov's on Friday evening, the Arrows returned home on Saturday afternoon looking to complete the weekend sweep.
Senior Bucknell-committed attack-man Tommy Armstrong got Seb's on the board first just 1:26 in, dodging from behind the cage and finishing with a beautiful diving back-handed shovel shot. With 7:50 play in the quarter, Nick Johnson responded for Gov's with a right-handed rip up high in transition to tie the game at one. Just 1:07 later, sophomore attack-man Charlie Hoffman gave Seb's back the lead with a drive to the cage and left-handed finish up high. Sophomore midfielder Matty Swirbalus doubled the lead to two with a left-handed cannon on the run from about 15 yards out with 4:31 to play in the quarter. With time winding down in the quarter, Gov's was awarded a man-up and Johnson cashed in for his second of the day. Johnson took a feed from Charlie Rainer at the top of the box and fired home a righty rip up high with 2.9 seconds remaining to make it 3-2 in favor of Seb's at the end of one.
Senior attack-man Timothy Blue fired home a right-handed bouncer off of a feed from Armstrong behind the cage just 1:13 into the second quarter to make it a 4-2 game. Gov's countered a little over 2:30 later when Rainer dished a feed to Blake Weldon for an easy dump-in goal at the net-mouth, cutting the deficit back to a single goal. The game remained 4-3 until 6:02 to play in the half, when Hoffman ripped home a lefty cannon on the man-up for his second of the day to make it 5-3. Back-to-back saves by sophomore goalie Ryan Williamson in the final moments of the half allowed the Arrows to take their two-goal lead into halftime.
Exactly one minute into the second half, Hoffman completed the hat trick, taking out the garbage at the net-mouth following an initial save on a fast break to extend the lead to 6-3. Gov's countered with a strike from Noah Studley just 19 seconds later to cut the lead back to 6-4. Just 11 seconds later, following a face-off win by junior Michigan-commit Jack Rideout, Denver-committed LSM/close D Jimmy Freehill made a beautiful inside feed to senior attack-man Eddie Harrington, who finished down low to make it 7-4. Harrington's goal sparked a 5-0 run by the Arrows throughout the remainder of the third quarter, with goals coming from junior midfielder Timothy Browne, Penn-committed junior LSM PJ McKeigue, Rideout and another from Harrington. The run would serve as the game's turning point and gave the Arrows a commanding 11-4 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Studley ended the Seb's run just 26 seconds into the fourth on the man-up with his second of the day, dumping home a goal at the net-mouth off a feed from Weldon to make it 11-5. Following the ensuing face-off win by Rideout, Swirbalus responded right back for Seb's by driving down the right alley and finishing with a bouncer to make it 12-5 with 10:19 to play. Freshman attack-man Michael Quinn added some insurance moments later with a right-handed rip down low to push the lead to eight. Seb's would run out the remainder of the clock and prevail by the 13-5 final.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
