By Griffin Butler ’18
On Wednesday, May 4th, the JV Lacrosse team faced a strong Hudson JV team. So far this season, Hudson’s JV team is undefeated and has shown no signs of slowing. Upon Hudson’s arrival, there were some problems with the bus and the Hudson’s players had to rush to prepare for the game. The weather was not promising, with dark skies and strong winds. The game soon began as US’s two freshman face off men, Conrad Hiltebrandt and Alex Afnan, prepared to battle for possession in what would be a high scoring game. The whistle blew, and the game was underway.
US lost the opening face off, and scrambled to get back on defense. Within the first 45 seconds of the game, Hudson’s face off man scored with a blazing bottom left shot. Throughout the first quarter, Hudson scored multiple times, with responses from US. In the second quarter, it began to rain, making it more difficult for the players to perform their best. Goaltender Tod Kennedy had some fantastic saves, and both John Warner and Critter Coughlin had some fantastic goals. US’s defense played well, but were unable to head into halftime level. Hudson had possession for a large amount of the first half – while they got off more shots, it became apparent that once US got the ball goals would be scored.
The third quarter was started with a face off lost by US. The call was illegal procedure on US’s Afnan, for using his elbow during the scrum. This did not get Afnan down, and he sprinted to get back on defense, eventually causing a turnover and giving US an opportunity to score. A stand out goal was made by Trip Gorman, a sophomore and experienced member of the lacrosse team. John Warner drew Trip’s man and immediately passed to Trip, who whipped a blazing shot to the top left corner. This goal raised US’s morale, and a comeback ensued. Critter Coughlin and John Warner added to US’s tally, aided by crucial assists by George Curley. With just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, US was trailing but desperately trying to to come back. Charlie Hollington, another sophomore, dodged his defender and had a beautiful chance, but missed his opportunity and Hudson yet again had possession. John Warner had another great chance, but rocketed a shot off of the crossbar. Hudson finished the entertaining affair as 12-9 victors.