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4/22/2010- Lacrosse
Brother Rice routs St. Mary's, leaving no doubt
By ROSS MAGHIELSE
Special to The Oakland Press
BIRMINGHAM — Birmingham Brother Rice has long been the standard for lacrosse excellence in Oakland County and the state of Michigan. Orchard Lake St. Mary's is working to get to that point. When the two teams met on the field Wednesday night, the Eaglets were reminded how much further they have to go.
The Warriors left no room for doubt that they are still the best team in the area — crushing St. Mary's 19-7. Brother Rice led 12-1 at halftime and most of the Eaglets' goals came late in the game, after Brother Rice starting goalie Christian Eckert was taken out.
“It got away as soon as the first whistle blew” said a frustrated Greg Normand, the head coach at St. Mary's. “We think we're better than we are. We think we're some kind of great team because we went to the finals last year. We got outworked on every ground ball. We got outplayed and we didn't play the way St. Mary's is supposed to play.”
While St. Mary's didn't play up to its level of expectations, the Warriors ran a clinic on how to play winning lacrosse. After the Eaglets scored the first goal of the game — an 18-yard bounce shot from Drake Chwalibog — Brother Rice seized control of the game with 14 unanswered goals. The Warriors scored four goals in a four-minute span and the Eaglets were never able to stall their momentum. Brother Rice was too fast, too physical, and too talented on this night.
The Warriors lost a lot of talent from last season's Division 1 state championship team, but have a group of young players who have stepped up to fill those shoes. The Warriors' roster is loaded with sophomores and juniors, some of whom have very little playing experience. But at Brother Rice, all players — regardless of age or experience — are held to the same expectations.
“We know we have some inexperience but we don't like to look at anybody as a senior, junior, sophomore or whatever, we like to see them as another player,” Brother Rice head coach Rob Ambrose said. “We don't look at players by age, we look at them by ability, and our young guys are coming along.”
To suggest the Warriors are “coming along” may be an understatement. Brother Rice is off to an 8-1 start, with their only loss coming to an out-of-state team from the Chicago area.
“That Brother Rice team is probably the best team I've seen in two years, they might be better than last year's team,” Normand said.
Sophomores Riley Kennedy and Henry Nelson paced the Brother Rice offense. Kennedy scored three goals and distributed five assists and Nelson scored five goals. Lukas Jackson, a senior captain for the Warriors, also contributed with four goals and two assists and senior Grant Fisher added three goals.
“Our sophomores are really young, but they're good and they play like they have a lot of experience,” Fisher said. “That takes a lot of our shoulders as seniors, when you know they young guys are up to it and can handle the pressure.”
Brendan Austin and Alex Houck each scored two goals to lead St. Mary's. The Eaglets are now 3-3 on the year.
“It's one game, and I get that part, but it's the sixth game of the season and we've gotten smoked three times by three really good teams. We just stunk up the place tonight and if you don't want to stink up the place then you'd better shut up, get back to work, and go play.”
The Warriors will get another test in their next game when they travel to East Grand Rapids on Saturday for a non-league game with the defending Division 2 state champs.
“That's a real important game,” Ambrose said. “They are one of the premiere programs in the state and that's going to be a huge game for us and one we take very seriously.”
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