Senior Johnny Wiseman scored six goals to lead the Olentangy Liberty boys lacrosse team by host Delaware Hayes 10-4 Thursday night at Cornell Stadium in Delaware.
“We were possessing the ball a lot longer than we did in the last game,” he said. “We did a great job of getting out of each other’s way and they really opened up some opportunities for me tonight.”
Wiseman’s biggest goal came with 8 seconds left in the third quarter as he spun through three defenders before beating the goalie to give Liberty a 5-3 lead.
It was a back-breaking effort. The Pacers had rallied for three goals in the third quarter to cut a four-goal deficit to one.
“We can’t let other teams get that … energy,” Wiseman said. “At that point I felt like we needed an energy-booster. I got a cut-through, a lucky roll-off, and I went through the back-side check and ended up putting it in. It really helped our team get back the energy that we lost.”
Blake Eiland got the Pacers on the board off an Andrew Lyon feed with 6:02 left in the third.
Sam Lagando scored two goals in a span of a minute and a half to pull the Pacers within 4-3 in the third quarter.
“We thought we’d have more success with him at midfielder as far as a dodging and shooting perspective, and that showed tonight,” Hayes coach John Lyon said. “He stuck with what we were trying to do and it worked out for us.”
Wiseman scored twice in the first quarter and added his third early in the fourth to stake the Patriots to a 4-0 lead.
Delaware had an opportunity to do some damage in the fourth with a man-advantage on a slash penalty followed by an unreleasable conduct penalty at the 10:37 mark.
But, the Patriots got back-to-back goals by Wiseman and Alex Theuerkauf down a man pushing the lead to 7-3 to take control.
“What (Wiseman) was able to take advantage of was the over-commitment. He’s too quick to guard like that,” Liberty coach Jason Godwin said. “In that moment when they were a man down when he flipped the game around, that over-commitment … he can beat that. He’s too fast and he’s too quick.”
“That’s disheartening,” John Lyon said. “It was just a tough (fourth) quarter from 9 minutes on. Liberty is a great team and they’ve got great players.”
Spencer Towne scored twice, Mcquire Flanagan added a pair of assists and Skylar Wahlund stopped seven shots in goal for the Patriots (2-0).
“(Hayes was) just grinding all night,” Godwin said. “They’ve got spunk … nobody for them quit all night. They didn’t give up. You can’t sit on a three-goal lead with that team, that’s for sure.”
Tyler Carney made eight saves, including six in the middle two frames, to keep the Pacers (1-1) close and Andrew Lyon helped out with a pair of assists.
“At halftime – I think we organized a little bit,” John Lyon said. “Our fundamentals got better. I think we had good effort in that third quarter going into the fourth quarter.”
Both teams return to action Saturday. Liberty hosts Cincinnati St. Xavier in its home opener at 2 p.m. and Hayes hosts Bishop Watterson at 7 p.m.
Olentangy Orange 12, Granville 3
The Blue Aces scored the game’s first goal, but the host Pioneers scored five of the next six to take a 5-2 halftime lead they parlayed into a convincing win in Thursday’s home opener in Lewis Center.
Chris Gardiner found the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 and Mason Handa scored off a feed from Jack Applegate to give Orange an early lead — a lead it never relinquished.
Granville kept it close with a second-quarter goal before Applegate scored to give Orange its 5-2 edge with 2:08 left in the second quarter.
Will Roby scored three goals in the second half and Luke Schmeling added two more to break the game open.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Olentangy 11, Granville 5.
