Justin Nogueira leads an attack during a loss to Simsbury in the only game last week.
By BRIAN JENNINGS
STAFF WRITER
The Blue Knight lacrosse team was hindered yet again by the reoccurring theme that has haunted them throughout most of the season.
Unable to clock in and punch out for all four quarters resulted in their ninth-straight loss on Thursday, May 4, a 12-3 decision to Simsbury to continue the skid.
“We played exceptionally well in the first two quarters, but we didn’t do so well for the other two quarters,” said Southington coach Ron Chase. “Simsbury came out and scored four goals right off the bat in the first half, and we just couldn’t recover from it in the second half.”
The Knights kept the game close, trailing the Trojans by just a pair of goals, 4-2, at halftime. However, the Trojans pulled away with eight goals in the second half, keeping the Knights scoreless, 6-0, in the third quarter.
“We did a lot of the little things right in the first half,” the coach said. “We missed a couple of shots and some defensive stops though that could have helped us out, and we threw the ball away a few times. That will start adding up after a while, and that’s what happened.”
Matt Gundersen (2 shots, 1 assist), Ethan Thomson (3 shots), and Colton Brown (3 shots) accounted for Southington’s goals. Justin Nogueira contributed with an assist, and Brandon Slade recovered six ground balls.
Garrett Brown saved 16 shots in the cage. Southington took 23 shots on goal and committed five penalties.
The Knights will look for their first win since Tuesday, April 11 this week when they travel to Glastonbury (8-3) on Thursday, May 11 and return home to host NW Catholic (5-5) on Saturday, May 13.
Although Southington is currently 1-11 overall and out of postseason contention, Chase said that his young team is still playing hard with character.
“When you play a schedule like we have, it’s tough,” the coach said. “I give our guys a lot of credit because they don’t back down and don’t stop playing. A lot of teams would have cashed in by now, but these guys keep coming out and playing every day.”
For this week’s box scores, click here: (southingtonobserver.com/2017/05/10/weekly-scoreboard-for-the-may-12-edition). To contact sports writer Brian Jennings, email him at BJennings@SouthingtonObserver.com.