LaPietro scores four, Burnt Hills beats Columbia 13-5
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y − Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Boy’s Lacrosse led Columbia going into halftime early Thursday afternoon.
The Spartans were weary of resting on their laurels, especially since the last time they led Columbia at halftime, it ended with a comeback and win for the Blue Devils.
“I thought their goaltender did a good job, made some really nice saves, which kept us from getting a little bit more momentum,” said Burnt Hills Head Coach Tom Schwan Thursday following the game. “Overall I thought it was a real good matchup with both of us. The game starts wanting to do work. It’s like going into the office. You have got to want to grind and do work.”
Burnt Hills marched into Columbia and took the 13-5 win Thursday to push themselves to 5-2 against Section II opponents this season. With the loss, Columbia falls to 1-6.
Columbia initiated the scoring Thursday thanks to Tyler Williams. Williams took a quit cut across the front of the cage, and a nice pass from x allowed for the quick dump into the back of the net.
Williams finished with two goals and an assist.
From there, it was a Burnt Hills’ first half. Goals from Ryan Salsbury, Jackson Bach, J.D Townsend, Darien LaPietro, and Caden LaPietro gave the Spartans the 7-2 lead into the half.
Highlights from the half were Darien LaPietro’s four goals, including a hockey style shot where LaPietro batted the ball with the head of his stick right off the ground passed Columbia’s Collin Dougherty in net.
The Burnt Hills offense was quick, passing the ball with purpose, and getting their touches in before initiating any attack on the cage. The game changer, however, was the Spartan’s ability to ride the ball on Columbia’s clears. Burnt Hills had several chances off of turnovers from those clears, which could have very well been the difference maker Thursday afternoon.
“You have got to want to grind and do work and riding is that piece, and in doing that we gave ourselves a lot more offensive possessions,” said Schwan. “We are really balanced. At the beginning of the year we were minus three offensive starter and a defensive started with illness or injury, so the last week or two we have started getting everybody back, back healthy, and we are starting to get some real good flow.” Schwan continued. “We don’t have one or two guys that we want to initiate the offense, we feel we have eight or nine guys that can initiate, move the ball well, and we have not typically had that, it’s been a progression. We are going to need that,” said Schwan.
At the half, as the Spartans waited for Schwan to break down the first half, they reminded each other of what happened last season against Columbia, and how they weren’t going to let it happen again. And they didn’t. Despite three more Columbia goals scored by Ben Cook, Owen Stefanko, and Williams again, as well as the superb goaltending of Dougherty, the Spartans pressed on, scoring six more of their own in the half for insurance and deepen the cushion for the win.
“Our ball movement was real good. I liked our flow and from both the attack and the midfield on, and we moved the ball with some good looks,” said Schwan. “I thought their goalie did an excellent job, so therefore, they needed to clear the ball a lot and I thought we created a good number of turnovers in our ride, which was something we did well our entire game”
For Burnt Hills, Salsbury added another goal to his stat line, along with Caden LaPietro, Adams, with TJ McHerron adding his first of the day in the half.
Looking onward, Burnt Hills will see Ballston Spa twice and face Shaker, CBA, Guilderland, and Bethlehem.
Columbia’s seasons does not get any easier either, with Shen next on the list, with Niskayuna not so much farther down the road. Columbia will also have a chance to see Averill Park twice, Albany twice, and Troy.
“Our final six are Class A opponents and that’s the good thing about our schedule; we have six really good opponents coming up, including today, and that’s a good way to end the second half of the season,” said Schwan. “With the Columbia’s, Guilderland’s, Bethlehem, Ballston Spa, Shaker, and CBA. Those are some really good teams, so it’s good for us.”