Smith, Wahconah Hand Lenox First Loss
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Bryce Smith outdueled Jeffrey Larmon, and the Wahconah boys lacrosse team Saturday proved it is still the top dog in Berkshire County.
Wahconah keeper Smith matched Lenox's Larmon with 10 saves apiece, and Smith pitched a first-half-shutout in an 8-5 win over the Millionaires on Berkshire Community College's Gene Dellea Field.
Rylan Padelford recorded a hat trick in the low-scoring affair, which saw Wahconah lead, 4-0, at half-time and Lenox get within two goals midway through the third quarter beore the reigning state champions were able to re-establish their lead.
"It was a good game," Smith said. "It went to the end. People showed energy. It was a good game overall."
Smith credited his defense with his first half performance, which saw him turn away all six shots on goal that he faced.
"I think our defense played well," he said. "They held [Lenox] outside. There weren't many crease shots coming in close. They were far shots -- high save percentage shots."
The win gave Wahconah a 12-1 record and extended an 11-game winning streak.
It also marked the 13th game that Wahcoah has held its oponent to single digit goals. Smith is a big part of that equation.
"Bryce is a heck of a goalie," Wahconah coach Joe O'Neill said. "I would say he's, especially at the Division 4 level, one of the top goalies in Western Mass. And I'd say at any level of play, he's right up there."
Larmon once again was solid between the pipes for Lenox (13-1), despite allowing eight goals that match the season high for a Millionaire opponent this spring.
"He had his head down a little bit ... but the kid's 14 years old, he's a freshman," Lenox coach Brett Larmon said of his son and keeper. "I would say on Monday he'll probably have his 200th [career] save as a freshman.
"So, you know, he played great. He never gets rallied. He kept us in it. He really did."
Wahconah's Zachary Flaherty opened the scoring with a low liner from distance in the second minute, but Larmon stopped the next two shots he saw. Padelford found the back of the net late in the first quarter to give his team a 2-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Devin Lagerwall scored with an assist from Jacob Thomas, and Lagerwall returned the favor, setting u Thomas for a goal in the 23rd minute to send Wahconah into the break up, 4-0.
Lenox's Brett Larmon said his team may have been a little intimidated by Wahconah in the first half, but between shaking off some nerves and making some adjustments, the Millionaires came out stronger in the third quarter.
"We changed our offensive set a little bit," Larmon said. "We went to into a little different formation. We were trying something new that we hadn't done before. It just wasn't really generating a lot of offense, yet, so we went to a different set.
"We put a long pole in at faceoff to try to slow [Wahconah's Noah Poirier] down a little bit, and it worked occasionally. But we were just trying anything we can to slow them down."
Donny Bowler gave Lenox its first goal on a man advantage early in the third quarter, and Ian Mack converted a shot from about 15 yards out to make it 4-2 with 6 minutes, 40 seconds left in the third.
Wahconah answered with goals from Jon Howard and Padelford to re-establish its four-goal margin at 6-2 with 3:36 left in the third.
Wahconah opened the fourth quarter with goals from Padelford and Luciano Canino to stretch the margin to five goals at 8-3 with 4:24 on the clock.
But Lenox had one more spurt left in it, getting goals from Kitson Stover and Paul Naventi to pull within three with 2:46 on the clock.
But Poirier continued his dominance on faceoffs, getting the possession for Wahconah, which ran out the remainder of the clock to secure the win.
"It's a luxury having a good faceoff guy, becuae it allows you to control the possesion a little bit more," O'Neill said.
Wahconah wraps up the regular season this week with games at Chicopee Comp and Northampton.
Lenox has three games this week: home against Smith Voc on Monday, at Hoosac Valley on Wednesday and home for the regular season finale against St. Mary's on Thursday.