WALES — The Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon and Edward Little boys lacrosse coaches used Tuesday’s matchup at Stacen Doucette Memorial Field as an opportunity to learn and execute, with the host Raiders beating the Red Eddies 19-2.
“We worked everybody in, and everybody got goals,” Raiders coach Joey Hinkley said. “I tried to make sure we were moving the ball around — passing and catching — running our plays for the bigger and better games.”
Edward Little coach Thomas Smith said it was a learning experience for the Red Eddies (0-3) playing against the Raiders (3-0), who went to the Class C state championship game last season.
“You try to coach each of your guys up, and the best way to improve is to go against someone who is better than you,” Smith said. “You have to do that and find out how they beat you and learn from that.”
Faceoff man Gavin Leet had five goals for the Raiders, while Travis Caron had four goals and an assist. Gage Spier and Tiger Hopkins each had three goals.
Hopkins was also a facilitator, with a team-high four assists.
The Raiders jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game when Leet, Kaiden Delano and each Caron found the back of the net.
“They have a lot of talent, and they can move the ball,” Smith said. “They have athletes running down the field with it, and they move it well.”
Leet finished the first quarter with two more goals, and Spier also scored to extend the lead to 6-0.
“It feels good to start (the offense) with the ball movement,” Leet said.
D’Andre Daniels scored early in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead for the Raiders. Hopkins and Leet later scored seven seconds apart. Leet won the faceoff and ran down the field for the goal.
Caron fired home his second goal from a long-range distance for a 10-0 lead. Adam Hinkley scored while falling to the ground to extend the Raiders’ lead.
The Red Eddies stopped the Raiders’ run with a man-down goal from Tyler Smith. Wesley Clements scored for the Red Eddies shortly after with an even-strength goal, which cut the deficit to 11-2.
Hopkins capped the second quarter with a goal and an assist on Caron’s third goal of the game for a 13-2 lead.
Joey Hinkley said running the offense keeps his team focused.
“I try to keep them as focused as best as possible by saying: ‘Hey, let’s play our game, run our plays, run our offense and play defense, challenge a little bit harder on defense,” Joey Hinkley said.
Leet, Hopkins and Caron scored in the third quarter for a 16-2 lead.
“We changed up our defense and it slowed down their offensive guys,” Thomas Smith said. “That helped out.”
Lukas Bergeron scored and Spier added two goals in the fourth quarter for the Raiders.
“We got a couple of new guys on the score sheet, which is always good,” Joey Hinkley said. “Everybody knows who our goal scorers are, and we try to get everybody on the score sheet.”
Nich Michaud made six saves in the win and Daulton David stopped 17 shots in the loss.
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