Senior Matt Marsh assisted on the go-ahead goal and scored 53 seconds later to give Upper Arlington some space and the Olentangy boys lacrosse team couldn’t recover, falling 10-7 Wednesday night at Marv Moorhead Stadium in Upper Arlington.
Nik Schickram led the Golden Bears with five goals and an assist, including a pair of fourth quarter goals during a 5-0 run that put the game away.
“They just played more consistent, better lacrosse than us,” Olentangy coach Dominique Alexander said. “We just got tired and started feeling sorry for ourselves and let them go on a little run.”
Olentangy scored twice in the fourth quarter on goals by Blake Profio and Khairi Sears to close the gap a little. But, Alexander was unhappy with their body language at that point.
“Lacrosse is a game of runs – you take a punch and you should be able to throw a punch, but we never really threw our punch. We started feeling sorry for ourselves,” he said. “Body language is a huge indicator. We talk about having positive body language even when you get scored upon. We didn’t necessarily have that.”
Neither team led by more than a goal before UA’s second-half rally. Schickram scored three times and assisted on another as the teams traded goals throughout the first half.
“UA is kind of the pinnacle of midwest lacrosse,” Alexander said. “We’ve got work to do – but there’s definitely some good things to take away from that, and definitely some things we can learn going forward.”
Olentangy threw its punches for the better part of three frames. It held the lead a couple of times in the first quarter, albeit only for a combined 2 minutes and 2 seconds.
Sears attempted a centering pass from behind, but it missed the mark. Profio scooped it and flung it by the goalie to give Olentangy a 1-0 lead with 9:03 left in the opening quarter.
Schickram connected with Marsh 39 seconds later to tie it for UA (3-0).
“What makes them great is that they wear teams down,” Alexander said. “Obviously they have talent … but if you can weather the storm and take what they throw at you, you have a chance to win a game like this.”
Olentangy took the lead at the 2:22 mark of the opening period on a Hassan Radda goal. But, Charlie Little tied it up 3-3 for the Bears with 59 seconds left in the frame.
Still, UA, which held one-goal leads at the end of the first and halftime, couldn’t push the lead any higher.
Sam McInturf was steady in goal for Olentangy (2-1), stopping 14 shots overall. He made a pair of saves with UA a man-up to keep it tied 5-5 midway through the third quarter after Olentangy committed back-to-back penalties.
But, Olentangy couldn’t capitalize on the potential momentum.
“Sam played great. He made a bunch of door-stop saves and kept us in the game,” Alexander said. “You’d like to take those things and turn them into momentum plays. But, then you come right back and turn the ball over. If you give a really good team the ball back, it leads to goals.”
Profio led Olentangy with a hat trick and Riley Bruening scored twice while Mitch Conway and Kyle Milliron each tallied assists.
Marsh finished with two goals and an assist. Ben Tjaden, Little and Blake Showe each tallied goals, Harry Baker had a helper and Jake Carlin had seven saves in goal for the Bears.
Next up, Olentangy hosts Medina Friday night at 6 p.m.
St. Charles 10, Delaware Hayes 6
Casey Eiland had a hat trick, Blake Eiland added two goals of his own and Sam Lagando found the back of the net once, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Pacers past the Cardinals Wednesday in Delaware.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Big Walnut 21, Centennial 6.
MEN’S LACROSSE
Ohio Wesleyan 14, John Carroll 5.
