Seniors Tommy Garvey and Xander Meyer combined for seven goals, and sophomore Jack Bryner added a hat trick, in the Kenston boys lacrosse team's 14-2 victory over the Hawken Hawks on April 9.
Seniors Tommy Garvey and Xander Meyer combined for seven goals, and sophomore Jack Bryner added a hat trick, in the Kenston boys lacrosse team’s 14-2 victory over the Hawken Hawks on April 9.
Senior captain Tommy Garvey felt good about the Bombers’ execution.
“It was a team effort — a little slow to start, but that will happen,” Garvey said. “But I think once we got going, we were hard to stop. … A lot to work on, but I think it was a great game.”
As Garvey mentioned, once the Bombers started scoring, they were hard to slow down.
In fact, the Bombers took a 3-0 lead heading into the second quarter.
Kenston then added five goals in the second quarter to take an 8-2 lead heading into halftime.
After the half, the Bombers added six goals to make the final score 14-2.
Afterward, Head Coach John Tallman talked about victory over the Hawks and the excellent start the Bombers have had this season — in particular, the offensive focus, having Wyatt Koenig back in the lineup to take the face-offs, and the excellent play of Garvey.
Coach Tallman said a main strategy the Bombers used against Hawken was passing the ball and making extra passes on the offensive side of the field.
In addition, getting a few players back helped out a lot, he said. The return of their face-off specialist, senior Wyatt Koenig, to the lineup was helpful, as Koenig won 15 of 18 face-offs.
Winning face-offs is very important, his coach said.
“It’s a big deal, because if you have a good face-off guy it will get you more possessions than the other team,” Tallman said. “It stands to reason that you’re going to have a lot more opportunity if you can get the ball right away rather than trying to overdo it on defense or cause some mistakes.”
With the Bombers focused on winning possession on the face-off, then moving the ball around by making extra passes on offense, senior Tommy Garvey led the attack to put the ball in the net.
“He’s a strong offensive player and he is a smart offensive player in general,” Tallman said.
Additionally, Tallman said Garvey’s leadership is important because as a senior, he is like having a coach on the field.
“If he’s on the field and the boys need direction, he’s not afraid to give it,” Tallman said.
The coach also talked about offensive contributions by Xander Meyer and Charlie Thompson.
“Xander and Charlie, when they’re going it’s hard to stop them,” Tallman said. “As you saw tonight, when Charlie gets through the middle like that, good luck.”
Leading the Bombers offensively was senior Tommy Garvey, who had four goals.
In addition, netting goals for the Bombers were Bryner (3), Meyer (3), Thompson (2), Oliver Forney (1) and Ethan Noah (1).
Leading the Bombers in assists were Meyer (3), Forney (2) and Koenig (1).
After a couple challenging match-ups to end the week against University and Chagrin Falls, the Bombers are now 5-3 on the season — and motivated to continue working hard throughout the season.
“I would say about the whole team, they are very motivated to change the story from the end of last year into this year,” Coach Tallman said. “They work extra hard, day in day out, to make sure we are getting the right results.”
