Blair boys burn Blake Bengals

March 29, Blazer Stadium—

The Blair boy's varsity lacrosse team played a strong and steady game on both sides of the ball at last Thursday's game, and succeeded in converting ordinary shots into spectacular goals. Three individual Blazers racked up hat-tricks and trounced the Blake Bengals 10-4. Though the Bengals gained immediate control of the ball at the start of the game, senior goalkeeper Robert Ginsberg showed his talent with a brilliant save, much to the raucous audience's delight. The Blair boys kept possession, and within the first two minutes of the intense game, junior Tim Visclosky scored the opening goal, his first of three. Yet, after another skillful save by Ginsberg, both teams made a series of unsuccessful passes resulting in several turnovers, slowing the pace of the game.

After a quick time-out called by Blake coach Brian Oliver, the Blazers were back on and better than ever. With five minutes left in the quarter, after Blazers had made three unsuccessful yet admirable tries at a goal, junior Jaime Binns scored the second goal of the game, with an assist to senior Phillip Allen. The Blazers dominated their offense, and were able to maintain possession which resulted in yet another goal after a sensational sequence ending with a pass by Allen to Binns, bringing the score to 3-0. The boys continued to control the field, and Ginsberg held strong at the goal and proved his worth again and again with his expert saves. But with under a minute left in the quarter, the Bengals broke through Blair's defense, and Blake junior Brian Bruning scored, bringing the score to 3-1 to end the first quarter.

The second quarter opened with several impressive saves by Ginsberg and a few failed attempts at a goal by blazers. The Bengals seemed to be losing focus, turning the ball over several times in a row, which resulted in an opportunistic goal by sophomore Michael Mozer with an assist from older brother senior Nick Mozer, with six minutes remaining. Anchored by Ginsberg, the Blair defense continued to play strong and hold the Bengals without a goal in the second quarter. As the quarter drew to a close, Michael Mozer, with the help of sophomore Andy Holmes, scored yet another goal and the quarter ended with some very confident Blazers and a score of 5-1.

The third quarter seemed to pass in a blur of speedy passes and turnovers, primarily dominated by Blair players. Binns scored yet again, quickly followed by another goal by Nick Mozer, bringing the score to 7-1 and the audience's excitement level to an all-time high. After the Bengals managed to score once more, Blairregained control of the game after Visclosky scored two quick goals. The self-assured Blazers seemed to relax some, and were able to maintain steady possession until the quarter ended with the Blazers leading 9-2.

Blair dominated the final quarter with crisp passes and another smooth goal by Michael Mozer, to complete his hat trick. For much of the fourth quarter the Blazers worked the clock to make sure that the Bengals could not get back in the game. The game ended with a score of 10-4, and one final extraordinary save by Ginsberg, who had over 20 saves in the game. The boys were thrilled about the win after the game, and Binns said, "our defense shut down their offense, and there was a lot of cooperation on our team." Coach Robert Gibb commented that, "we're really coming together as a team, and we're still improving." Blazers hope to continue their winning streak at next week's game at Damascus at 7 pm.