Scots stay perfect with lacrosse win

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

Saint Andrew’s won its fifth straight boys lacrosse title last year, but the sting of a midseason loss to Lake Brantley still resonated with the Scots.

So Saturday, Saint Andrew’s returned the favor at home with a 16-10 victory, and in the process sent a message to the team they would likely face in the state final.

“We’ve been hyping this game all week, we prepared, and we got ready to go at them and we did,” said Mike Lipin, who scored two goals and had two assists for the Scots (6-0). “We came out of the gate really hard, and went up from there.”

The Scots raced out to a 4-2 first period lead behind two goals from Matt Bellando and Will Diamond.

But after Lipin scored his first goal to stretch the lead to 5-3 at the 8:35 mark, Lake Brantley’s Neal Toomey responded with consecutive goals to make it a 5-5 match.

Then came the turning point, a man-advantage for Saint Andrew’s that Brad DeSouza converted into a goal with 4:43 left.

That ignited a six-goal spurt by the Scots over the second and third periods to give them a commanding 11-5 lead.

 “It was a huge motivational boost,” Lee Coppersmith said of DeSouza’s goal.

“We knew, we just kept taking it to them, keep shooting, we’d wear them down.”

In the third period, the Scots possessed the ball for the first five minutes, scoring two goals before giving the Patriots another opportunity.

Diamond and Robert Nogueras finished with three goals and two assists apiece.

“I think I played pretty well,” Diamond said. “We won, so that’s the big point.”

Scots coach Jeff Goldberg said, “I think we won the unsettled game, and I also think we won the six-on-six game and stalemated them on faceoffs.”

Afterwards, in a sign of sportsmanship, the two teams dined together, eating subs in the Saint Andrew’s pavilion.