Lenox Shakes off Rust, Routs Rams
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The last time the Lenox boys lacrosse team took the field at Berkshire Community College, it took away a Western Massachusetts trophy.
On Saturday afternoon, it looked like a team ready to pick up where it left off.
“I think we’re going to do just as well as last year,” Kitson Stover said after a 13-3 season-opening win over Granby on Gene Dellea Field. “Hopefully go a little further than Western Mass.”
Stover was one of three Millionaires to record a hat trick on Saturday, joining teammates Donny Bowler and Paul Naventi. Shaler Larmon and Finn Lenehan each scored a pair of goals in the win.
All those names should sound pretty familiar to those who followed the team in last spring’s 16-3 campaign. Much of Lenox’s offensive firepower returns this year, along with goalie Jeffrey Larmon, who started as an eighth-grader last year and earned the win between the pipes on Saturday.
“We lost senior Eddie Boyko, who was the heart and soul of this team,” coach Brett Larmon said. “We lost him and a couple of kids [Frederick Eustis and Arthur Schwartz] who are off skiing. So we’ve got some young kids stepping up.
“We had two kids playing as eighth-graders last year: Jeffrey in the goal and Donny on attack. And they’re getting bigger and stronger now. … We’ve got 30 kids on the team this year. We’re going to play a couple of JV games.”
It took a while for Lenox find its footing on offense on Saturday.
After dominating the possession time in the first quarter, the Millionaires found themselves staring at a 0-0 scoreboard 12 minutes into the game.
Twelve minutes and 7 seconds into the game, it was a different matter.
Ian Mack won the faceoff to start the second quarter, ran the ball into the box and found Stover open on the doorstep. Stover finished past Rams keeper Nate Loughman (16 saves) to give Lenox a 1-0 lead.
Naventi scored a man-up goal, and Stover scored again to make it 3-0, Millionaires, five minutes into the second quarter.
“We just came out slow,” Brett Larmon said. “We haven’t really had time to practice, with the weather. We’ve been in the gym. We’ve practiced outside maybe three times.
“We had to knock the rust off. But they came together in the second half. We were able to get a lot of the younger kids in. It was a good win.”
Granby got on the board with about four minutes left in the half, but Bowler scored his first goal of the game off a ground ball to give his team a three-goal cushion at half-time.
Lenox then effectively put the game out of reach with a 5-0 third quarter to take a 9-1 lead.
Bowler scored his second straight less than a minute into the half to start the run.
Larmon capped it with his first goal off an assist from Luke Gamberoni in transition to make it an eight-goal margin.
Granby scored twice, including a man-up goal, in the fourth quarter, but it never got closer than seven goals the rest of the way.
Lenox continues a busy opening week on Monday when it goes to Smith Vocational before goig to St. Mary’s of Westfield on Thursday.