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Momentum Shift: STAB boys win tight matchup with Blue Ridge on the road

Scrimmage Play correspondent Devin Walker contributed to this story

 

St. Anne’s-Belfield boys lacrosse knew it was in for a battle when they made the trip to St. George for a matchup of top eight squads in the VISAA’s Division I. 

 

Liam Mullins and Callan Baker made sure the Saints won the battle with the Barons as STAB picked up a critical 9-8 win on the road. It was a huge victory for the Saints who’ve been in some tough matchups and lost to the Barons twice a year ago including in the state playoffs.

 

“This is a huge momentum shift, we’re coming off a couple of close losses and just to come out of a really tight game showed us what we need to do in order to win tight games in the playoffs,” Mullins said. 

 

Mullins won 14 of 19 faceoffs and Baker made 17 saves for the No. 4-ranked Saints. Mullins was quick to attribute the Saints’ success on faceoffs to the entire unit. 

 

“We have really great wing play with Timmy Myers, Liam Hurley — including the poles, they all hustle like crazy and really make my job a lot easier,” Mullins said.

 

The faceoff unit’s work helped STAB’s dynamic offensive players get into a groove, with Peyton Booth notching a hat trick and two assists while Liam Hurley scored twice and assisted on another goal. Booth notched the game-winner and completed the hat trick with 3:26 to play.

 

“We were able to get out of the gates fast and then Blue Ridge made some great plays,” said STAB coach Bo Perriello. “We just had to settle down and get back to what we were doing at the beginning of the game, taking longer possessions and taking care of the ball when we had it.”

 

STAB had to battle late in large part because Blue Ridge recovered nicely from an immediate flurry of action by the Saints to start the game. Booth fed Myers and Dax DiMuzio for two quick goals and then Myers notched his second with 7:16 left in the first quarter to push STAB’s early lead to 3-0. 

 

Blue Ridge settled things down in the first half and then exploded out of the gate in the second half, scoring three quick goals by Ace Nichols, Matt Niznik and Kayle Ryan to cut the lead to 6-5 with eight minutes left in the third. Ryan and Nichols each finished with two goals while Fort Carter, Evan Foster and Danton Molotky had one each. Brody Burrell had six saves in the cage and Jackson Lindsey picked up four ground balls.

 

“Late in the second quarter and into the second half I was very pleased with how we responded, we got off to a slow start but we might have played our best game in awhile anyway,” said Blue Ridge coach Dom Starsia. “I was really proud of the way we fought back there in the end, we didn’t seem to be able to loosen them up from the outside and we had to work really hard to get our opportunities.”

 

Baker stuffed 17 Blue Ridge shots and the Saints’ defense as a unit managed to hold the Blue Ridge offense that had been averaging 12 goals per game to just eight. 

 

“The defense was amazing, they were communicating and they were getting on the hands which made me see a lot of easy shots,” Baker said. “And we were riding, clearing and that led to a big win.”

 

It was a similarly encouraging performance for the Barons’ defense after the initial flurry to start the game, as STAB managed just nine goals after averaging 13 per contest coming into the matchup. 

 

Both squads are in position to make the VISAA’s Division playoff field with the tournament set to start in a little more than two weeks. The Saints will next battle Woodberry Forest, another top eight team, Saturday at home while the Barons will look to bounce back on the road Friday against Collegiate. 

 

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