CM Boys Lacrosse Team Captures Overtime Win

By Gary Beam

How does that old song go? What a difference a day makes; 24 little hours. Well for the Trinity Hillers the words have been changed to "what a difference a month makes; 30 little days."

When the 2012 Boys Lacrosse season began on March 23rd, the Big Macs faced its arch rival Trinity at Canon-Mac Stadium and built up a 10-4 halftime lead and went on to coast to a 16-9 victory.

Last night, on Hiller territory, Trinity came out with their eyes on revenge as the two teams turned Hiller Stadium into a shooting range with balls whipping around as fast as the unrelenting and cold blustery wind that chilled both players and fans to the bone.

The Big Macs experienced their largest deficit of the season when Trinity built a three-goal lead at the halfway point of the second quarter but late goals by Richie Leeds, Andrew Hendal and Nick Podlaszewski evened the contest at 6-6 at the half.

After a short half-time break, which at least this writer appreciated, Canon-Mac rebounded from an early Hiller goal scored less than a minute into the third quarter by scoring four consecutive goals of in a span of four minutes and entered the fourth quarter with a 10-8 lead.

But school pride is a powerful force in high school sports and Trinity was determined to show that despite their winless season, that they had a lot to play for. The Hillers struck early again scoring in the first minute of play in the fourth quarter and after Andrew Hendal’s fourth goal of the game (20th for the season) put the Big Macs back to a two-goal lead, Trinity scored twice in less than a minute to tie the game.

The intensity of the contest made the cold conditions less noticeable, particularly after Matt Maletta’s go-ahead goal with 2:35 left was answered by Trinity’s tying goal with only 1:42 left in the fourth quarter as the teams headed into overtime.

But after Trinity won the opening face-off, the Big Macs defense tightened up and after several changes of possession, Ben Ward netted the game-winner with 1:31 left in overtime.

It marked Canon-Mac’s second overtime win in its last four games and extended its winning streak to eight, dating back to April 4. The team takes their 11-1 record to Norwin on Thursday as they continue their second of four consecutive road games before finishing the regular season with three home contests. Six of the seven remaining games are Division 2-Section 1 games.