By Kevin Murphy ‘22

Brother Rice lacrosse has started their season off strong with an early win against Kenwood Academy on Tuesday, March 13. The final score read 6-4 Crusaders, with the game being extremely close in the fourth quarter after the Broncos came back from a deficit to keep the game alive.

Quick to score for the Crusaders in the first period was senior and captain Gavin Ward. About two minutes after taking their 1-0 lead, Ward scored once again with a 20-yard snipe.

“For some reason the defense was giving me way too much space,” said Ward. “I just decided to wind up and it worked out.”

The Crusaders kept dominating the Broncos and ended the half with a lead of 5-1. Sean Curtin and Sean Curran both added a goal with Ward getting his third in just the first half.

The Broncos did not give up easily and started the second half with a quick goal. As the period went on, they continued to pile up goals and when the horn to end the third quarter had sounded, they had cut the lead to just one. Just like that, the Crusaders went from a 5-1 lead to a 5-4 lead.

The fourth quarter remained scoreless as the Broncos fought very hard to get one more goal to tie the game. However, the Crusader defense proved strong and did not allow another ball to hit the back of the net. With about 30 seconds left, Sean Curtin shot a dagger and extended the lead to 6-4.

“It was important we started out the season with a win since our team is younger,” said Sean Curtin. “It will give us a lot of momentum to keep the season going strong.”

After the game, Coach Haggerty said, “I loved our first half performance. If we play like that all season, we will be a great team. We just need to stay strong during the second half to not give the other team any hope of victory.”

The Crusaders play next at Minooka on Saturday, March 26, where they look to extend their record to 2-0.