High School Lacrosse
REGULAR SEASON
MARCH 13, 2007
Shamrocks get the point in league-opening win
By NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Trinity High School’s lacrosse players were sitting in the northwest corner of Marshall Stadium’s Harry Jansing Field at halftime on Tuesday when head coach Pete Schroeder asked them to name the first two factors that the Kentucky Lacrosse Association considers to break a tie in the standings at the end of the regular season.
The first tiebreaker, as he had to tell them, is head-to-head competition. Considering that the Shamrocks were leading Sayre 12-2 in their 2007 league opener, Schroeder’s players probably wondered what point he was trying to make.
But then he informed them that the second tiebreaker is goals allowed, directed their attention to Sayre’s half of the scoreboard, and said, “That’s too many goals. This isn’t garbage time.”
In other words, it all counts now for the three-time defending KLA champion Shamrocks (2-0) - even on the field with Sayre (0-2), a second-year program making its Division I debut with 27 underclassmen on a 33-man roster.
“This is league play, and everything matters,” Schroeder said after Trinity’s 17-5 win. “Every pass is significant. Every faceoff is significant. Every man-up is significant.”
And he thought that at least a few of his players failed to remember that on Sayre’s first two scoring plays.
“Sometimes our focus wavers,” Schroeder said. “Sayre has some nice players but probably not enough to run with us.”
The Shamrocks heard him loud and clear.
"We still have a little work to do," junior Phil Brehl said.
Trinity made its superiority much more clear on the offensive end with 17 goals - 11 of which were assisted - on 39 shots. The Shamrocks had taken 29 shots in a 4-3 win over Darlington (Ga.) in their season opener on Saturday.
“We missed the cage 15 times in the first half against Darlington,” Schroeder said. “That kept them in the game. So we worked on nothing but shooting at practice on Monday, and it worked out OK today.”
Trinity scored six goals in the first quarter and another six in the second quarter, including three in a span of 45 seconds. After scoring two more in the first four minutes of the second half, the Shamrocks had a 14-2 lead that put a running clock into effect for the rest of the game.
Senior Sean Medley scored four goals and had an assist. Brehl also scored four goals.
“Medley was in the right spot, and his teammates have confidence that he’ll finish,” Schroeder said. “Brehl also finished very well. His teammates are starting to gain confidence in him.”
Senior Ed Wunderlin had two goals, senior Jay Buschmeyer had one goal and two assists, and freshman Zach Connors had three assists. Senior Mike Duffy, junior Charlie George, senior Tim George, junior Shane Kaster, senior David Thompson, and senior Dan Weber each scored once.
Trinity’s goalies didn’t see the kind of action that their Sayre counterpart, Henry Bradley, encountered. Senior Greg Donahue (2 saves) and sophomore Collin Reichert (1 save) each faced just four shots.
“We had a chance to measure ourselves against the guys that have established themselves as the class of the lacrosse in Kentucky,” Sayre coach Erik Johnson said. “It’s a great experience for us, even if we were on the bad end of a lopsided score. I was adamant about making the jump to Division I this year because I envision this program becoming a long-time power, and you have to play the best in the state to do that.”