With a combination of hard defense and organized offense, varsity boys lacrosse defeated the Centennial Knights Thursday night, 8-2.
Senior Taylor Ratinaud led the team scoring the first goal of the game and adding another one in the third quarter.
“I just got our team fired up and ready to go, and then our offense started clicking,” Ratinaud said.
Senior goalkeeper Seth Maxwell protected the cage well, saving nine shots and allowing only two goals.
“You just gotta trust in one another, trust in our goalie, trust in each and every senior and make plays,” senior Will Clem said.
The first quarter started off competitive but Starr’s Mill took the lead with Ratinaud’s goal. Later in the opening quarter, Centennial’s Sid Faulkner tied the game before Starr’s Mill sophomore Tanner Via retaliated with a goal increasing the lead to 2-1.
Starr’s Mill began to panic in the second quarter where they sped up the play and were unable to score leaving an opportunity for Centennial’s Ryan Lawson to score. The half ended at 2-2.
If you play good people, whether you win or lose and you play well, you can carry that momentum into the playoffs.”
— head coach Jeff Schmidlkofer
Starr’s Mill came off the half and sophomore Sebastian Patnubay got a yellow card resulting in them playing man down. Despite that, Starr’s Mill was able to slow down the play and get two goals in two minutes, one by senior Anderson Cardoza and another by Ratinaud.
They continued this momentum with junior Henry Pettit and sophomore Lucas Hamilton both scoring. The strong third quarter ended with Starr’s Mill up 6-2.
In the final quarter, Starr’s Mill’s defense was a key element in ensuring the Panthers win over the Knights. With an aggressive combination of both the middles and defensive players, they held onto their four-goal lead until senior Conor Stone executed a behind the back shot and senior Kaden Smith finished up the game with another score to give the Panthers the victory, 8-2.
“It’s the grind. It’s that time of year, and you’ve gotta play good people. You’ve gotta play good teams. We are gonna go play Westminster, Lovett is coming next week, [and] we’re going up to Cambridge next Thursday,” head coach Jeff Schmidlkofer. “If you play good people, whether you win or lose and you play well, you can carry that momentum into the playoffs.”
The Panthers are 10-2 overall and 2-0 in the region. They play at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Westminster.