BOYS LACROSSE
By: Tim Falls
The Hopewell Valley Central High School boys lacrosse team’s loss to Hun shows the Bulldogs individual efforts were not enough.
Even four goals and three assists from senior Eric Doran were negated by the 12-9 loss.
"There’s no highlights in this game," said Doran. "It’s a loss, it doesn’t matter about the personal stuff."
Doran helped cut down Hun’s lead, but the Raiders’ attack created too many scoring chances for Hopewell to counter.
"We knew they had a really high-powered offense and we knew we couldn’t give them fast breaks and that’s something we didn’t execute," said Doran. "They did and they took it to us. They played a good game."
Mark Squicciarino had a hat trick for Hopewell, coming on strong in the second half, while John Clarkeson and Max Knight both scored once. Doran had three assists while Chris Tantum provided two.
"I don’t think we had our best focus coming into this game," said Doran. "It definitely shows, getting down in the first quarter and having to dig ourselves out."
Hun gained a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and led 7-3 at half time.
The Raiders scored first in the third quarter to lead, 8-3, before Hopewell battled back to within two goals (8-6).
Hun kept the pressure on with 32 shots, and forced Hopewell’s goalie Tony Christiansen to stay alert.
"Tony picked up in the second half when we really needed him," said Doran. "But we really didn’t give him a lot of help. We weren’t possessing the ball on offense and defense and we didn’t stop the breaks, so we weren’t much help."
Despite Hopewell coming into the game winning its last four, Doran said the team isn’t where it needs to be and has to work to improve.
"We’re 4-2 and have Montclair coming in on Thursday (Today)," said Doran. "We really got to get back to where we need to be."

