HARVARD — The Trojans came into Thursday afternoon’s clash with Hudson much like their counterpart — hungry and looking for their first win. In lacrosse, the team with the larger ground balls-won margin typically wins.
Bromfield owned a 41-25 advantage in that department, and sent the Hawks squawking back to Hudson as they overcame a sloppy first quarter to emerge with the 9-3 victory. Senior attacker Rishi Singh led the Trojans with four goals and two assists.
Singh feels that Thursday’s game was a step in the right direction for the Bromfield program.
“We came into the season not knowing what we had having lost the first couple games,” said Singh. “Coming into this game, we knew a lot about Hudson and how they were doing. We were both winless team, and it really came down to who wanted to work the ball.”
The first quarter was one of great defensive proportions, as neither team could tickle the twine until the 11:00 mark, when Singh broke-up the stalemate. Singh powered into the crease for an unassisted rocket with 2:34 remaining in the quarter.
Hudson couldn’t find an answer for Singh and the Trojans in the first quarter, as they failed to retaliate. At the end of the quarter, Bromfield clung to a 1-0 advantage.
Corey Tower rattled the cage three minutes into the second frame with a nifty goal to put Bromfield up by two. Sophomore midfielder Matt Oljearz acted as the facilitator on a Nate Dutekevych strike midway through the period.
Olejarz dialed up a pass in the crease, and Dutekvych gave the ball a proper burial in the back of the net to put the Trojans up 3-0.
Hudson attacker Adam Cariveau stopped the bleeding with a bouncer from 12 yards out off a feed by Nicholas Sullivan to make it 3-1 going into the half in favor of the Trojans.
Singh barreled his way into the crease four minutes into the second half, and shifted the ball past Hudson goaltender Richard Drummey to extend the Trojans’ lead back to three. That would be the only goal Bromfield would get in the third, but in the fourth quarter, the Trojans breached the flood gates.
The Trojans offense exploded for five goals in the final 12:00, and the Hawks failed to come up with an answer for Bromfield’s speedy attack.
Olejarz planted one between the pipes as he juked the Hawks’ defenseman out of his cleats, and punished the net to put the Trojans up by four just 35 seconds into the fourth.
Singh acted as the facilitator on a goal by sophomore midfielder Ryan Ashe. Singh advanced the ball in from the alley and met Ashe for a wicked shot from point-blank range to make it 5-1 with 10:28 left in regulation. Bromfield continued to push the tempo, and they were rewarded with a pair of back-to-back unassisted gems from Singh.
Tower hammered home his second tally of the game with less than two minutes left to finish the scoring onset by the Trojans, and give them their first victory of the 2013 campaign. Bromfield junior goalie Preston Wilkey halted 14 shots for the win.
Bromfield enjoyed goals from five different players in the win, and head coach Joe Gatto was overall pleased with the team effort shown Thursday afternoon. Olejarz scooped up a game-high 12 ground balls for the Trojans.
“The first half was pretty sloppy,” said Gatto. “The thing we were doing well today was playing really good defense the whole game. We also did very good controlling the ground balls. “
