Boys Lacrosse: Panthers fight off determined Blue Devils
The Victor boys lacrosse team struck first -and last- in their Monroe County cross-division game against the visiting Pittsford on Saturday.
Unfortunately, scoring the last goal with 15 seconds left in the game only got the Blue Devils within one goal of the Panthers, where the score stayed, 8-7 Pittsford, until the final horn blew.
It was an entertaining and well played early-season game with a pair of juniors in Jack Lauroesch and Corey Parke leading the Panthers (3-0 overall) with three goals each. Also scoring for a goal apiece for Pittsford were seniors James Burke and Steven Troup.
Victor was led by Connor Kimble with a game-high four goals along with a goal each from Mitch Rupp and Dale Mattice. Steve Basile had 10 saves for the Blue Devils, while Connor Quinn made 12 saves for the Panthers.
"Coming in I knew Victor was absolutely a good team," said Pittsford coach Andrew Whipple. "So we knew it was going to be a tough game and they gave us everything we could handle."
Victor started out on top when less than two minutes into the game Rupp found the ball roll out of a scrum in front of the Panther net to his feet, that he quickly scooped up and deposited in the back of the net.
Five minutes later Pittsford tied the game on a nifty pass play from sophomore Andrew Rodenhouse to Parke. The Panthers went on to lead 4-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Pittsford maintained that two-goal lead throughout the second quarter, leading 6-4 at the half.
The second half was more of the same with the Blue Devils getting to within one goal twice more only to have the Panthers answer back with a goal of their own a few minutes later each time to maintain that 2-goal lead.
With 15 seconds left Victor's Kimble let loose an underhand ripper from the middle about 25 feet out that quickly found the back of the net and got the Blue Devils back to one goal down. But 15 seconds go by fast and despite lots of pressure from Victor in that time frame, they couldn't tie the game.
"Victor is a pretty good team and they played well, but we can play better than this," stated Panther senior captain Matt Gold, who had an assist in the game. "I felt that our goalie (Conor) Quinn stepped up today. It's definitely a big win for us but I know that we can play better than this. We are just waiting for our offense to start clicking. The defense is really playing good right now so we are basically waiting for the offense."
Victor head coach Mike Gottko didn't seem too upset with his team's play. Just a few small mistakes might have been the difference in the game.
"I'm proud of the kids," Gottko said. "I love how we came back. We are learning that the game is mental as well as physical and that little things add up. We had three or four mistakes in the third and fourth quarters that came back and hurt us. I think the little things do count."
He then went on to point out a couple of his teams highlights.
"(Victor goalie Steve Basile) struggled a little bit against Livonia last week but I think we are growing as a team and he got his confidence back," he said. "We are also seeing a lot of leadership out of him as well. Dale Mattice will play a complete 48 minutes for us. He is an athlete, a kid that we are very confident that when he his out on the field he is going to do good things for our team. He played well today too.
But we are all trying to get better each day, working together and trusting the coaching staff and in turn having the good trust-bond relationship between the coaching staff and players."
Victor, now at 1-2, will host Honeoye Falls-Lima Tuesday, while Pittsford will be hosting Penfield the same night.