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4/10/08- Lacrosse
Grounded — As injured player heals, Eagles fall to St. Mary's
By Dan Strawser/Daily Press & Argus
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HARTLAND--There was a moment of silence between the junior varsity and varsity lacrosse games between Hartland and Orchard Lake St. Mary's Wednesday night.
It was for Hartland sophomore Mark Osterhoff, who was in an auto accident Friday and is still in critical condition.
"Anything like that will have a long effect," Hartland varsity coach Bill Derrick said. "It's not going to go away. We're still praying for him before games and before practices. I told the kids we're a family and Mark is part of our family." Hartland junior varsity coach Mike Holka said Osterhoff was making slow and steady progress.
"He's a very strong kid," Holka said.
Hartland varsity goalie Adam Holka, also a sophomore, is close with Osterhoff.
"I saw him over the weekend," Adam said. "It was rough for me, but he's getting better."
The Eagles dedicated Monday's season-opening win against Walled Lake Central to Osterhoff, but Wednesday's contest didn't go as well.
Orchard Lake St. Mary's (2-3) held Hartland scoreless after the first quarter and went on to take a 16-3 victory.
"I'm a new coach with a new team," said St. Mary's coach Greg Normand, who also coaches the Brighton ski team. "We're taking it slow. This was the first time we played the way we're capable of playing."
Hartland's Pat George gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead just 25 seconds into the contest, but that would be the only time the Eagles would be on top.
The Eaglets scored the next three goals, helped by a rash of Hartland penalties.
"We started off well, but we took some penalties and they capitalized," said Hartland's Jon Bemben, who stopped St. Mary's run with an unassisted goal at 5:45 in the first quarter. "That set us back. We came out a little too aggressive and ended up taking penalties. We broke down a little and got down on ourselves."
Trailing 4-2 with under a minute left in the opening frame, Hartland's Kyle Black scored, assisted by Bret Kenwell.
That was the last goal for the Eagles, who continued to get hit with penalties.
In the second period, St. Mary's controlled possession and ran set plays on offense with attacker Drake Chwalibog setting things up from behind the net.
"We were a little weak on our man-to-man defense and were trying to switch it up, but we couldn't find the right one," Bemben said. "And they were getting good shots."
The Eaglets scored five goals in the second period to take a 9-3 lead into the half.
"They were applying a lot of pressure and they seemed to get all the ground balls," Hartland sophomore Matt Kenwell said. "They were getting good shots and passing around us and everything.
"We came in confident. A little maybe overconfident. We just need to settle down. I wouldn't say we were playing selfish, but we need to pass the ball more."
Derrick said it was a good learning experience for his team.
"Orchard Lake St. Mary's is a very, very good program," he said. "We're trying to emulate it. We're coming along, taking baby steps, and we're getting there. Now we have to regroup (today) in practice."
The penalties were definitely an issue according to Derrick.
"Against inferior clubs, you can take penalties and get away with it," he said. "Against good clubs, you can't do that. The kids saw that first-hand tonight. In the first quarter, we were there. If not for the stupid penalties, we'd be there.
"It was a great learning experience and that's why we schedule teams like Ann Arbor Huron and Orchard Lake St. Mary's. We're going to take our lumps, but the kids really played well. For 2 1/2 quarters, we were there. I'm proud of the kids."
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