Lenox Dominates Central in Season Opener
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Midway through the first quarter of its first game, the Lenox boys lacrosse team had just a 1-0 lead over Springfield Central.
The Millionaires scored 11 goals in the next 18 minutes on the way to a 17-2 win at Berkshire Community College.
Luke Gamberoni scored six goals and assisted on three more, and Paul Naventi and Kitson Stover each had a hat trick as Lenox handed new head coach David Hilfinger a win in his first outing.
Hilfinger said the relatively slow start offensively was not surprising.
“I think that’s just nerves and first game of the season and not having practiced against another team,” Hilfinger said. “Because as the season progresses, we’ll get better at finishing, executing and scoring.”
Naventi opened the scoring in the sixth minute, and Evan Love found the back of the net just more than a minute later.
Gamberoni put back a rebound and set up Naventi for his second goal in a one-minute span to make it 4-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The floodgates opened offensively for Lenox in the second quarter.
Kitson Stover scored in the first minute of the period. Then Lenox scored twice down a player due to a penalty, getting finishes from Paul Naventi and Luke Naventi to push the margin to 7-0.
Kyle Pickering got Central on the board with the first of his two goals with 7 minutes, 56 seconds on the clock, but Lenox finished the half with five straight goals, the last giving Gamberoni his hat trick to make it 12-1.
Things could have been worse for the Golden Eagles but for the goalkeeping of Vernon Charles, who turned aside nine shots in the first half and finished the game with 13 saves.
Jeffrey Larmon stopped six shots in Lenox’s goal; five of those saves came in the third period, when Central was even in shots on goal for the only time in the game.
Gamberoni still scored twice and set up Stover for a man-up goal to make it 15-1 heading to the fourth quarter.
Stover and Gamberoni each scored in the final period to round out the scoring.
Lenox, which is gunning for its fourth-straight Western Massachusetts title game appearance, opened with the same score it posted against Central in last year’s season opener.
But it is a new year for the Millionaires, who graduated six seniors off last year’s regional finalist squad.
“We have some big shoes to replace,” Hilfinger said. “We lost some and defense from last year. Some younger players are stepping up. I’m happy with the performance today.
“Luke Naventi, you saw, was pretty dominant on faceoffs. Midfielder Evan Love and Oliver Kirby stepped up, too, with ground balls, great catches, good defense. We played a good all-around game.”
Lenox Monday plays its first road game when it visits Monson.
Photos from this game to come.