Hollis Brookline boys lacrosse picks up win over shorthanded Keene (video)

HOLLIS - When spring doesn't cooperate, a game some times take the place of practice.

Rich MacDonough was happy to see that his Hollis Brookline High School boys lacrosse took advantage of its time outdoors on Friday against Keene.

After a first half in which Cavaliers senior Ryan Olson did all the scoring, HB spread the ball around in the second half and kept the Blackbirds in check to take a 9-2 win in Division II action.

"We started playing into some rhythm (in the second half)," MacDonough said. "Lacrosse is a lot about rhythm, and when we have space, when it was proper, our throws were more confident and our guys were cutting to green when they had to. They played with poise at the clearing line. That takes getting on the big field. We were learning during the course of the game, and I’m a fan of that."

Olson had four of his game-high five goals in the first half, as HB (2-0) got out to a 4-1 lead, and the senior also had an assist. JJ Fiore added two goals while Matt Passamonte and Mark Labak also scored. Garrett Moloney had five saves.

Keene (1-1) got a goal each from Marcin Maleski and Avery Houston, with Maleski's goal coming off an HB turnover in the game's first three minutes that gave the Blackbirds a 1-0 lead. Backup goalie Will Lindsay made nine saves, as Keene was missing a handful of players.

"It was a good gut-check game for us," Keene coach Griffin Kiristy said. "We knew beforehand that this was going to be one of those teams that we would be a good measuring stick. We’re down guys. Starting goaltender, starting midfielder, starting attackman are down. We were short staffed, but I told them they’ve got to step up.

"It was sloppy to say the least. We were dropping simple passes. Our offense was out of whack, we weren’t rotating the way we want to rotate. I just don’t think we got off the bus. I tried to get them going with a little bit of urgency pregame, but you could just tell from the opening whistle that they were flat."

After Keene took the early lead, Olson led HB back, getting his first goal of the game when some miscommunication by the Blackbirds defense gave him an open look from out front. That tied the game at 1 with 6:35 left in the first, and Olson scored two more in the final 3:10 of the quarter to make 3-1.

Although the Cavs were able to maintain possession for long stretches of the first half, HB only scored once more before halftime, as Olson made it 4-1 with 3:16 to go before the break.

"We missed some looks, we missed some opportunities," MacDonough said. "Our shooting was a little sloppy. We looked like a team that hasn’t been on a field. Our spacing wasn’t good, but when we get some reps, it’ll improve."

Fiore scored his first to make it 5-1 four minutes into the second half, but it wasn't until late in the quarter that the Cavs were able to break the game open. MacDonough called a timeout with 3:15 to go in the third, and Fiore scored 50 seconds later and Olson got another with 1:07 to go before the fourth to make it 7-1.

Passamonte pushed the lead to 8-1 with his goal just 38 seconds into the fourth, and although Keene was able to get some looks on offense, getting a goal from Houston with 6:20 left to make it 8-2, the Blackbirds couldn't get any closer. Labak finished the scoring with 3:48 left.