By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The junior varsity boys lacrosse team opened its season with a low-scoring loss at Pembroke Saturday afternoon. The inexperienced Whalers relied on a deep defense to keep the game close, but a Titan goal in the third quarter sealed the 3-2 victory.
“We have some kids that have never played lacrosse before so there were some first-game jitters, and I think that was kind of true for everyone,” head coach Mark Latter said.
While the team keeps working on fundamentals over the first few weeks of the season, Latter hopes to use his deep bench to wear down opponents. The Whalers (0-1) are scheduled to host home games against Martha’s Vineyard today and Bourne Saturday.
“We have the numbers that we really feel like we can out-run teams and out-work them. We have so many subs we can keep throwing fresh people in,” Latter said.
Against Pembroke Saturday, Nantucket took the lead first as Alex Rezendes scored the first of his two goals in the game. The sophomore attackman took the feed down low, dodged two defenders from behind the net and beat the goalie for the score.
The Whalers kept the ball away from the Titans for most of the first quarter with a settle offense, but were not able to convert any shots for goals.
“We were doing OK. We were clearing the ball pretty well, we had some good possessions on offense. We didn’t really throw the ball away. We had some shots, but not the quality shots I would have liked to have seen,” Latter said.
Justin Rogers and Rezendes got a number of good looks on net, while midfielders Ethan Lockley, Hunter Stojak and Richard Hermansdorfer also contributed.
With three minutes left in the quarter, Pembroke found an open man in close to tie the game at 1-1. Both teams scored in the second quarter to go into the half knotted at 2-2.
Neither team could settle a lengthy offensive attack to take control of the game. In the third quarter Pembroke found the net to take the 3-2 advantage, which held until the final whistle.
Brandon Watson and Dillon Crosby led a strong defensive unit in front of goalie Paul Ciarmataro, who made 12 saves between the pipes.
“The defense played well. We have to do a little better job at finding the guys and running with them and that will come over time. We have only been on the field for two and a half weeks,” Latter said.
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