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3/29/2011- Lacrosse

St. Mary's wins second in Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR -- The Eaglets, without their best playe,r Doug Boyd, who is out with a broken leg, improved on first-game mistakes and played an almost error free-contest and defeated Ann Arbor Huron, 8-6, Monday.

St. Mary's was led offensively by a balanced attack as six Eaglets scored eight goals. For the second straight game, Evan Considine was a multiple-goal scorer netting two, while Nick Parr, P.J. Bonde, Garrett Anderson, Spencer McInnis, Chris Koski and Michael Koenigsknecht all scored one goal.

“We're getting the numbers we want offensively and during parts of the game, I thought our offense ran exceptionally well,” said Greg Normand, St. Mary's head coach. “We're young, but we ended up with 41 shots and more than 65 percent of our goals were assisted…..that's the way this offense is supposed to run. When we get a chance to practice our shooting, I really think things will improve with finishing around the net.”

Normand said the Eaglets have had a dozen or more chances to score in the first two games, but couldn't complete the pass or the shot.

“We have to work on the crease and find someone who can finish…the slot has produced 150 or so goals the last three years, so please believe me when I say it's important to have someone who can finish,” Normand said.

While the offense improves, the defense played a solid game. The Eaglet's won the ground ball contest with Huron 28-19 and were awarded 13 takeaways, including three by P.J. Walters.

“Our defense is coming around, we just have to be a bit more aggressive and understand our roles when we're on the field,” said Chris Brecht, St. Mary's defensive coordinator.

Brecht said he's pleased with the progress of his young defense and knows things will get better with the addition of Cortez Riley, a 6-2, 290-pound defenseman, who takes the field this week.

“We might have found our enforcer with Cortez inside, but we'll have to wait and see how he adjusts from football to the lacrosse field,” Brecht said.

The one area of major concern for the Eaglets is goaltending, according to Normand.

Steven Keith, St. Mary's starting goalie, has a low save percentage after two games and it has to improve if the Eaglets can expect to compete later on this season in league and post-season play.

“We've been blessed with three great goalies during my first three years here….guys that came to St. Mary's as established middle school goaltenders……we don't have that right now,” Normand said, “Steven (Keith) was a converted attack from two years ago and stepped in net because of the absence of a trained goalie.”

Normand said he appreciates Keith stepping in and realizes the past two games were the first for him in net at the varsity level, but the coach said something has to improve.

“First, there isn't a nicer or more respectful young man on our team than Steven…..he's just the best kid, but what we're talking about here is just better goalie play…..right now he's not seeing the ball and has given up a lot of soft goals and that's not something we can live with at this level of play…..it's been cold and practice has been reduced a bit in the last week, but we have to get Steven to play up to his potential if we plan on improving as a team. It's not fair to put this pressure on him, but that's the nature of the high school lacrosse game,” Normand said.

The Eaglet's won all the statistical battles including faceoffs as Spencer McInnis continues to improve as one of the best faceoff specialists in the state. McInnis won 14 of 18 faceoffs for a 77 percent advantage.

“The only thing I can say right now is we are improving, day by day and that's all you can ask of your team,” Normand said.

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