Steward Invitational – Game 2

Matt Brawn

The Hargrave lacrosse program accepted an invitation to the Steward School Invitational over Hargrave’s Spring Break. The host team Steward, John Paul the Great, Trinity-Meadow View and Hargrave joined together for a fun filled Saturday of lacrosse. With only about half the roster able to make it back form Spring Break for the tournament, the Tigers played great all day with a skeleton crew.

In their second contest of the day, the Tigers would face one of their regular season opponents as they faced off against the Spartans of Steward School. With short numbers and an exhausted bench, the Tigers came out swinging as Cadets Chris Brunetti and Chandler O’Conner connected to give the Tigers the early lead. Midfielder Cadet Justin Malinow would find the back of the net twice in the first period of play to help advance the Tigers to a 3-2 lead at the end of the first.

Midway through the second, the Tigers saw their early lead vanish as a quick pair of goals put the Spartans on top. Malino and Brunetti would each find the back of the net one more time before the half, but the Tigers could not keep the sticks of the spartans at bay as Hargrave would trail at halftime 11-5.

After a short halftime and a few adjustments the Tigers came out with a renewed vigor as they quickly started to chip away at the Spartan’s lead and locked down on defense denying all shots by the Spartans to find the back of the Hargrave net. Cadets Brunetti, Austin Kaizer and Keith Miller would collect goals in the third with Cadets Peterson, Malinow, and Ferguson earning assist efforts. By the end of three periods of play the score was tied 11-11. The final period of play saw a great battle as both the Tigers and Spartans traded goals and body checks as they slugged it out in the final 12 minutes.

With the game at 13-13 with less than a minute to play the Spartans took advantage of a midfield miscommunication by the Tigers to net the final goal of the game and earn the victory 14-13.

Hargrave Military Academy logo.