GAME PHOTOS: http://bit.ly/2rE16X5
The West Geauga Wolverines have had a high school lacrosse program for about 10 years, say coaches Amber Baker and Anthony Tadaj.
The team continues to take baby steps in the growth department, with a 5-3 record to start the season.
But a key factor for this sport is also just making it fun.
Games against veteran programs like Revere are difficult for West Geauga. Visiting fans and families far outnumber the home crew, most dressed in their bright white with red and blue lettering supporting the Revere lacrosse program — and it was a fairly easy task to identify each of them, too, with jackets sporting name and number embroidered beautifully on the front pocket.
Doing something like that takes tradition, first in getting going with the program, then after a few years of sustaining as high a level of play as possible.
The Wolverines lost 19-5.
“I thought the kids played fairly well tonight,” Baker said. “We just had a tough loss last night with Chardon (final score: 15-13), and with the natural rivalry we have with them, in a game the kids really played hard all the way, I really don’t think we had much energy left in the tanks tonight.
“Add in the fact that Revere has a long tradition with lacrosse (and) we’re still growing as a team. … It was just a tough night. But to improve, it’s also necessary to play higher quality teams.”
Assistant coach Anthony Tadaj sees good things, but also some things that just take time.
“Amber and I got a late start with the team this season,” he said. “There is some talent, but being a new sport and with so many inexperienced players, it’s not easy to get into any kind of a flow.”
In this matchup with the Minutemen, an ominous indicator of how the night would go came when the scoreboard operator couldn’t get the scoring sections of the board to work. Thanks to the public address announcer, the press box crew kept everybody informed on what was taking place instead.
Sadly, though, from the opening faceoff, which Revere won, leading to a goal by senior Zack Kasson at the 9:58 mark of the first period, the first of his eight scores in the game, Revere’s precision was apparent. Kasson scored again less than two minutes later, but the Wolverines did some things right in slowing the attack, falling behind by a 4-1 score after one period.
West Geauga had its first goal waved off with 3:07 left in the quarter, leaving everybody in the dark as no signals were given from officials.
Twelve seconds later, however, WG did score, with Jake Curtis drilling home a shot from the left wing.
Down 8-1 at the half, West G got a boost with just under two minutes gone in the third period when Trent Fritsche took a pass from Thade Fedor and fired the ball into the net.
That woke up the Minutemen, who then scored five goals in less than four minutes to quickly put the game out of reach.
Fritsche scored again, and tallied another pair of goals to end his night with four early in the fourth period.
“When we got down early in tonight’s game, we may have gone flat for a while,” Baker said. “Last night’s game, plus the fact that we don’t have enough kids for a junior varsity team, means they need to gain experience on the fly, and that isn’t easy in a sport that is new to the area for many of us. Keeping a good attitude is a big key to success, and we’re still learning how to improve on a regular basis.”
One of these years, think what others will say when West Geauga visits their stadiums with loads of fans in jackets embroidered with names.
GAME PHOTOS: http://bit.ly/2rE16X5