On Thursday Feb. 24, the MSD men’s varsity lacrosse team hosted the Belen Jesuit Preparatory Wolverines at 5 p.m. on home turf.

The Eagles came off of a tragic 13-2 loss to Saint Andrew’s School and hoped to bounce back in their next game. Going into this game, the Eagles were 1-2 overall. MSD would be trying to prevent two consecutive losses.

MSD began by winning the starting faceoff, passing around for a short time before having the ball taken away from them. Belen Jesuit was fast as they moved the ball very quickly.

With about eight minutes left in the quarter, the Eagles were down a man, midfielder Ryan Spallina (5), due to a flag. While the Wolverines could have easily scored with the advantage, the Eagles’ defense held up until they got Spallina back.

Finally, with about six minutes left in the quarter, midfielder Ryan Patton (22) scored a goal off of an assist by midfielder Quinn Kelley (24) for an early Eagles lead.
The Wolverines won the faceoff after MSD scored, went down and passed around. However, they then got the ball taken away from them, but immediatly got it back.

Midfielder Ty Stevens (31) took a shot from the side, but missed to end the first quarter. The Eagles were up 1-0.

“We needed to make our shots,” Stevens said.

To start the second quarter, both teams played great defense and neither was really getting any of their shots off.

However, with about eight minutes left in the second quarter, a fast break by MSD attacker Darren Edenbaum (8) scored. The goal was assisted by attacker Preston Gerena (7). The score was now 2-0, MSD in the lead.

Later, the Wolverines drove down and had a great shot, but MSD goalkeeper Michael Lelack (15) made an amazing save.

Stevens would take the final shot once again, but he missed again and brought the game to halftime. The score was now 2-1, MSD still in the lead.

To start off the second half, the Eagles had another flag and had to play with one man down again. The Wolverines had the advantage in penalties throughout the game.

For a short while, the game was quiet and defensive with no shots on goals, but both teams were playing very hard and the game was very physical.

Belen Jesuit struck again, tying the score at 2-2 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. This game was very close and neither team was playing better than the other at this point.

“This game was tough but we thought we could definitely pull it out at this point,” attacker Mikey Fierstat (27) said.

The Wolverines had to play a man down for the first time after a flag by them late in the third quarter; however, MSD did not capitalize and score.

To start the fourth quarter, the Wolverines scored in the first 15 seconds and celebrated their first lead. 15 seconds later, the Wolverines scored again and the momentum was with them as the score was now 4-2.

The Eagles passed down the field and had a tremendous shot, but it was saved by the Wolverine’s goalie. Then, the game went back to being defensive until the Wolverines had a great shot. But the attempt to score was prevented with another great save by Lelack.

The game ended 4-2 as the final clock hit 0:00. Although the game was close until the end, it did not ultimately go in MSD’s favor.

The Eagles’ score is now 1-3. Even though they have not had a great start to the season, they look forward to the rest of their season and prepare for their next game against Western High School at home on Wednesday, March 2, at 5 p.m. at home.