HARVARD — Penalties are often the death knell of team across the spectrum in all sports. The same was the case for the Bromfield Trojans boys’ lacrosse team, as they failed to stay out of the sin bin in their 8-4 nonleague loss to Shepherd Hill.
The Trojans committed 13 penalties in the game, with the vast majority of the slashing variety. Bromfield head coach Joe Gatto was unhappy with the lack of discipline his team showed Saturday morning.
“The problem with that game was that we had 13 penalties,” said Gatto. “When you play man-down that many times, you are going to be in trouble. You take a few of those man-down goals away, you have a different game.”
Senior Bromfield midfielder Rishi Singh recorded a hat trick, but the Trojans could not offer him much support.
It was a back-and-forth battle in the first half of the quarter, that was until Singh cut into the crease, pivoted and sprayed the ball into the top left corner of the cage to make it 1-0 Bromfield at the 8:00 mark.
A little over three minutes later, Singh found the back of the net again. This time he leaped in the air and shot the ball with authority past the Rams’ keeper to make it 2-1.
Chris Dutting would cut the Trojans’ lead in half when his shot rung the inside post, crossed the line and shot out to make it 2-1 with 4:00 left in the second quarter.
The play was set up on a lost ground ball in the Trojans’ defensive zone, and Dutting was able to capitalize on the Bromfield miscue.
Shepherd Hill was not done, as Zach Goddard snapped the ball between the legs of Bromfield goalie Preston Wilkey to tie the game at 2-2 with 8:56 remaining in the third quarter.
Shepherd Hill continued to keep the Bromfield defense on their heels as David Biancullie connected with a cutting Goddard eight yards from the cage to make it 3-2 with 6:04 left in the third. Singh scored again unassisted with 5:30 remaining in the quarter to tie the game at 3-3.
The Rams stormed back as Biancullie drew Bromfield goalie Preston Wilkey off his line and stuck the back of the goal to give Shepherd Hill a 4-3 lead at the 8:00 mark.
The Rams rang off four unanswered goals in the second half, highlighted by a pair by Goddard, who finished with a game-high four.
Bromfield sophomore Matty Bancher ended the Trojans’ scoring drought at the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter off a great assist from Matt Olejarz. Goddard scored the game’s final goal with 4:00 remaining in the game, as the Trojans were unable to mount a comeback.
Wilkey stopped 14 shots in the loss, as Shepherd Hill outshot Bromfield 22-15. The Rams held a distinct edge in the faceoff department, 11-2.
“The defense played pretty good,” said Gatto. “The real thing that cost us this game was the ground balls. It was probably two to one. They got all the critical ones in front of the net. Offensively, we didn’t get the rebounds. We will get better as the year goes on.”
