Eaglets fail to qualify for CHSL playoffs

ORCHARD LAKE – For the first time in three years, St. Mary’s varsity lacrosse team has failed to qualify for the CHSL playoffs after dropping a league contest to visiting Warren De La Salle Tuesday, 10-7.

The Eaglets were sparked by three goals from senior captain Sean Dupack, but it wasn’t enough to derail the Pilots. A rocky first half by the Eaglets saw them fall behind 8-2 at the intermission before roaring back to close the score to three goals. St. Mary’s
lost the first half by six goals, while recording only 10 shots, then came back with a stronger effort in the second half outscoring De La Salle 5-2.

“It’s another one of those games where we don’t play an entire 48 minutes,” said Greg Normand, St. Mary’s head coach. “We played a real bad half and a really decent half, but we can’t just compete like that if we’re going to put this thing in the right gear.”

Normand said the Eaglets have to start catching and passing with better efficiency in games if they plan on winning any more contests.

“This team competes hard and I mean hard….they have a lot of heart,” he said. “But while playing hard is commendable, somewhere along the line you have to show more talent, especially on the offensive end where we’re getting shots, but not producing goals
when we need them.”

St. Mary’s had 39 shots, but could only convert on seven tallies. The Eaglets only hit the net 34 percent of the time against De La Salle. The Eaglets’ found scoring from Evan Considine, who scored two goals, and Mike Koenigsknecht and Nick Parr, who added two assists, each scored once. Considine, the team’s leading scorer, is out for at least a week with a rotator cuff injury.

“We lose Doug (Boyd) and we continue to get guys hurt this year,” Normand said. “I am beginning to believe it’s just one of those years.”

Defensively, the Eaglets gave up some easy goals in the first half, but tightened down in the second to slow the quicker Pilots.

“I thought we made some good adjustments in the second half,” Chris Brecht said, who is St Mary’s defensive coordinator. “We have to stop making some of the mental mistakes we are making.”

P.J Walters and Paul Graham continue to play well on the back line. The Eaglets won the ground ball war, 44-39, but don’t be fooled by that statistic.

“When you have somewhere around 80 ground balls in a game, then something is wrong with both teams and that many ground balls just results in a sloppy game,”Normand said.

The Eaglets won the face-off battle capturing 15 of 21 face-offs by Spencer McInnis, who continues to improve as maybe one of the best face-off artists in the state.

“We have to get better and I will say it again…..right now,” Normand said.

St. Mary’s tries to get back to the .500 mark Thursday when South Lyon comes to town

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