Hawks ousted by Eagles

Matt Metcalf
Posted 5/26/15

Seeding aside, Bishop Hendricken was the better team for one half on Thursday night at Barrington in the quarterfinals of the Division I boys’ lacrosse playoffs.

But unfortunately for the …

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Hawks ousted by Eagles

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Seeding aside, Bishop Hendricken was the better team for one half on Thursday night at Barrington in the quarterfinals of the Division I boys’ lacrosse playoffs.

But unfortunately for the sixth-seeded Hawks, the third-seeded Eagles woke up late, reclaiming the lead in the third quarter before netting five goals in the fourth quarter to clinch a semifinals berth with a 9-4 win.

Hendricken tweaked its usual game plan for Thursday night, and it worked for 35 minutes.

Barrington’s Andrew Blau scored just 13 seconds into the game, but after that, the Hawks surrendered only one additional goal for the remainder of the half.

That one goal came just over three minutes later on a tally from Owen Curry to make it 2-0. Then Hendricken’s defense buckled down, giving its offense the time to produce.

With 27 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Hawks cut their deficit in half, as Rawson Godfrey found twine to swing the momentum heading into the second quarter.

And in that second quarter, Hendricken took its first lead of the game.

It took a while, but after a stalemate for the first seven minutes, the Hawks were able to strike in transition when Reilly Miller ripped a shot into the back of the net to tie the game.

Less than two minutes later, Hendricken took control on the scoreboard, as John Hindinger beat a defender behind the net, walked out in front and buried a shot past Stephen Paras to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.

Hendricken’s defense did a great job of keeping Barrington’s offense to the outside, shutting down the Eagles’ ability to capitalize on seams in the defense.

Because of this, the Hawks took that 3-2 lead into halftime.

“We switched up our scheme tonight and went with a zone,” Hawks’ head coach Kevin Murray said. “We played them the other night and they beat us man-to-man, so we decided to switch it up tonight. We played well on defense.”

Both teams clamped down on defense in the third quarter, resulting in little offense.

With two minutes remaining in that third frame, Hendricken’s Wyatt Alberigo hit the crossbar with a shot, just missing the chance to give the Hawks a two-goal lead.

Those couple of inches proved to be costly. Barrington regained possession shortly after that and quickly transitioned to offense, where Blau would net his second of the night to tie the game, 3-3.

But if that wasn’t bad enough, the next goal would be a back breaker for Hendricken.

Mike Curry was able to beat Sam Milnes with a shot from the right side as time expired in the third quarter to give Barrington a 4-3 lead – one that it wouldn’t relinquish again.

From there, the wheels completely fell off for the Hawks.

The Eagles went on to outscore Hendricken, 5-1, in the fourth quarter alone behind two goals from Cam Reilly and one apiece from Owen Curry, Nick Graham and Jake Bonney.

Hendricken’s James Mueller scored in the final minute of the game, but at that point, the game was all but over.

At the end of the day, Hendricken couldn’t sustain the high level of play that was needed in order to combat Barrington’s high-powered offense.

“We went for it at the end and gave up a couple, but that’s a good team,” Murray said. “They have three or four First Team All-Division guys. They’re not a deep team, but they’re a veteran team – and they showed it.”

The early exit in the quarterfinals is out of character for a Hendricken program that is typically a powerhouse. However, the Hawks just simply had a down year with an inexperienced roster. The Hawks’ 5-7 regular season record earned them the final playoff spot.

“Someone asked me at the beginning of the year if we were young – no we’re not young, just a little inexperienced,” Murray said. “I had guys playing a lot of minutes who didn’t get a lot of time in recent years. But I have to give my guys credit, they played hard all year. We had a tough year, but we never gave up and played a good game against a great team tonight.”

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