By Anthony CarreaMOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ – Mountain Lakes grinded out a tough 8-5 win against Madison in the Group 1 Boys lacrosse quarterfinal on Thursday. What started off a close game slowly turned in Mountain Lakes’ favor, as the Lakers exploded in the 4th quarter with four goals.
Two of them came from Tim LaBeau who got the home crowd on their feet with the first score of the game. He then put a cork in the close affair with repeated strikes, which helped the number one seeded Lakers pull away.
“They are a lot better than an eight seed. Their goalie made awesome saves but we got some by him.”
Their goalie is Brett Anton and he had 15 saves for Madison. He held his own against an attacking Mountain Lakes who managed 38 shots on goal.
While the Lakers pressured Anton, Chad Smith did what he could on the other side of the field. He chipped in 2 goals and an assist for the Dodgers in the first half, which ended tied 4-4.
Madison opened the second half with momentum thanks to a goal by Colin McLindan, but then the control shifted. A Madison player slashed a Laker and it was on. Maroon and white jerseys converged at midfield to the smacking sounds of helmets. The refs pulled the teams back to their corners but it was Mountain Lakes who took advantage. Fired up they hit four consecutive goals courtesy of Rob Orazietti, Andrew Portnoy and the star of the day Tim LaBeau.
“Ground balls were huge for us but the game plan was to win face-offs, and in the second half we did a lot better with that” said LaBeau.
Mountain Lakes will take on number five seed West Essex in the semifinals at home this Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com
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