St. Mary's season ends with loss to Grosse Pointe South

By ROSS MAGHIELSE
Of The Oakland Press

FARMINGTON — Orchard Lake St. Mary's matched Grosse Pointe South virtually shot-for-shot Wednesday night, but in the end came up on the wrong side of a 6-3 final in a boys lacrosse regional semifinal.

A key contributor in the outcome was Grosse Pointe South goalie Jeffery Blazoff, who made 12 saves, including fending off a handful of near goals in the fourth quarter to prevent a St. Mary's comeback.

“He's a four-year varsity player and a three-year starter for us so he's got a ton of experience,” Grosse Pointe South coach Don Wolford said. “He was outstanding tonight. There's really never much worry when he's out there because you know he's always going to make the right decisions.”

The Eaglets' defense was also tough and helped to keep the game within reach despite the offensive struggles. St. Mary's got a goal from junior Spencer McInnis to start the fourth quarter that made it a 4-3 game in favor of Grosse Pointe South. The Blue Devils then tacked on two more scores to make it 6-3 before the Eaglets made their final push.

In the final minutes, McInnis fired two shots goal — one of which deflected off the inside post — and senior Michael Koenigsknecht sent another shot a point-blank-range, but none were able to find the back of the net to narrow the gap.

“They have a very goalie, no doubt about it, and yeah, we just couldn't finish tonight. That's basically what it came down to,” St. Mary's coach Greg Normand said. “We threw the ball away 29 times. This game was just like every other game we've played this year, close but not close enough.”

St. Mary's started the game off looking like the aggressor getting goals from junior Evan Considine and Koenigsknecht to take a 2-1 lead after the opening quarter. However, that momentum quickly faded and Grosse Pointe South took control of the game during the second quarter as senior attacker Nicholas Diehl scored two goals and provided an assist to help the Blue Devils take a 4-2 lead at halftime. Diehl also scored the Blue Devils' final goal of the game, which served as the dagger to St. Mary's season.

“Diehl has got a lot of composure and is another kid who's been a three-year starter for us,” Wolford said. “He's really improved his ability to get open and control the play. Even when he's not the scorer, he's the guy that gets things moving for us.”

The Eaglets (8-12) battled through an up and down season with a very inexperienced team. It was both a challenge and a learning experience for the team and Normand vowed that they would be back and better because of it next season.

“I'll tell you this, we've got some underclassmen on this team who won't be back next year because they don't have enough heart,” Normand said. “That's something we've learned and we're going to fix that. “Our team will have heart and we won't be up with half effort next year.”

Normand also added that many of his young players did make great strides this season and gained valuable experience, which will help them grow into leadership roles going forward.

“Yes, absolutely. We'll be back next year,” Normand said. “I'm going to do a house cleaning with the guys that don't care and we'll be back and we'll be fine.”

Prep Lacrosse

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