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3/27/2011- Lacrosse
Eaglets Open Season Winning and Losing
ANN ARBOR -- There is no rest for the weary.
The St. Mary's varsity lacrosse team recorded the first win of the new 2011 season with a close 8-7 win over Catholic League rival Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard Saturday. But the Eaglets could have lost their best player for the remaining part of the season with a broken leg that occurred during a scrap in front of the net.
Doug Boyd, a St. Mary's captain, and a lone holdover from last year's senior dominated squad, broke a small bone in his right leg after an Irish defenseman landed directly on his leg.
Greg Normand, St. Mary's head coach, said Saturday night that Boyd was told by the University of Michigan doctors that he needed 4-6 weeks to heal and would be lost for most of the season.
"The first thing I asked Kevin (Doug Boyd's father) was whether or not he was a quick healer...?" Normand said. "We are certain devastated to lose Doug at this point in the season because he's worked so hard to get ready for this spring, but sometimes that's the way things work out."
Normand said he would welcome back Boyd immediately when his doctors clear him, hopefully, sometime at the beginning of May.
And while Boyd is on the mend, the Eaglets have a couple of emerging junior stars to thank for saving the team's first win this weekend.
Evan Considine, a junior midfielder, tied the game with 3:02 left in the fourth quarter and another junior, Chris Koski, scored the game winner with .56 seconds left in the game.
"When somebody like Doug goes down, you expect that somebody else will step up," Normand said. "Evan's goal was a thing of beauty....one of those....no, no, no....yes. Evan ran through three defenders and Chris just looked like he wanted the ball."
Normand said the new cast of characters will take some time to blend, but praised their heart and effort.
"This is not a team I am going to worry about as far as effort....they give you everything they have.....now we need to work on the basics and get a little better everyday," he said.
The Eaglets continue to blister the offensive end of the field, racking up 39 shots on eight goals, which includes six assists, but 32 unforced errors has the coaching staff concerned.
"We play hard. Now we have to play smart....much smarter than we played today," Normand said.
St. Mary's was led offensively by Considine's hat-trick and Chris Koski's two goals. Nick Parr, with three assists and a goal, paced the offensive along with single goals from Doug Boyd and Garrett Anderson.
Defensively, the Eaglets held Gabriel Richard to 13 shots, but unfortunately, senior goaltender Steven Keith wasn't as sharp as he was last week during a Lake Orion scrimmage, according to the coaching staff.
Chris Brecht, St. Mary's defensive coach, said Keith will have to find his bearings between the pipes before the next couple of games because the competition only gets stronger.
"I think Steven was a bit nervous, but he's going to have to get over that because there's no alternative. He has to play better if we're going to have any kind of success this year," Brecht said.
Senior defenseman P.J. Walters played a strong game at close defense, according to Brecht and Spencer McInnis won 10 faceoffs, while only losing four. The Eaglets take the field Monday, again, in Ann Arbor against Huron and return home for a trip to Brother Rice on Wednesday.
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