By Stephen Ham
Special to the Leader
   

On yet another cool, breezy evening in Scarborough, the Red Storm boys lacrosse team won yet another huge game, 7-5 against the Portland Bulldogs.
    This was an enormous victory for the Storm coming on the heels of a tough loss to Cheverus, and particularly so as it was against one of the top lacrosse programs in the state.
    The game began auspiciously for Scarborough with Portland’s all star K.R. Jurgelevich scoring Portland’s first goal just 38 seconds into the game. Earlier in the season, the Red Storm players might have lost discipline, but that didn’t happen this night. Coach Joe Hezlep’s players settled in and played a patient, passing game offensively, continuously looking to exploit opportunities in the Bulldog defense, and their defense mauled every Bulldog attacker in their zone all night long.
    The first Red Storm opportunity arose on a transition play with James Wright going the length of the field before passing to Ryan Hunt for the score to tie the game at 1-1 with 5:37 left in the first quarter.
    Portland regained the lead early in the second quarter, capitalizing on a Scarborough penalty, but after that the Red Storm began to feel this was going to be their night. Their second goal of the night came on a rebound. Chris Kipp put up a hard shot the Portland goalie was unable to cover and when it bounced in front of the crease, Danny Clark scooped it up and immediately beat the goalie for the tying score.
    With seven seconds remaining in the half, down 4-2, Ryan Hunt scored off of a Jake Barrett assist to pull the Storm within one, and you could feel the momentum swing towards Scarborough.
    Hezlep told his team at halftime they had the talent and energy to win, but they needed a total effort.
    The second half was closely contested, but the Scarborough defense just would not allow clean shots by Portland. This was without doubt the best team defensive effort of the season, with great effort from the entire unit. Nick Prince, James Wright, Jimmy Soules, Darren Smith, along with middies Chris Kipp, Ben Fink, and Kevin Daly were constantly harassing the Bulldog attack, and Mark Strait quietly held the states premier scorer in check all night. Pulling it all together was another stellar performance by goalie Joe Kennedy. Hezlep saw the improvement as well.
    “Defensively, we played much better as a team today. We had trouble talking through slides, and with different formations, but today we really started to put it together,” he said.
    Meanwhile Scarborough’s offense took control. They began with Jake Barrett’s ridiculously tight shot from the right side of the goal, to tie the score. Hunt then took a great pass from Nick Broadhurst and scored with 2:50 left in the third to give the Red Storm the lead at 5-4. The Scarborough energy continued to build when Brendan Ham came shooting around behind the Portland goal, slipping two defenders to score with 10:40 left in the game, giving the Storm a 6-4 lead. Barrett finished the scoring for Scarborough with a dominating shot coming down the throat of the goal.
    Following the game, Hezlep was effusive in his praise for his team’s performance.
    “Offensively we were ready to finish our shots in this game,” he said. “And defensively, once again [goalie] Joe Kennedy continues to amaze me, backing up shots, picking off passes. He is just playing great,” he said.
    Hezlep said the game was a starting point only.
    “We have to build on this. It’s not a destination. This is a good place to be right now, but we still have stuff to work on,” he said.
    The Red Storm move to 6-2 on the season. They play today at 4 p.m. in Falmouth.