St. Thomas boys lacrosse takes lead early, holds off Windham (video)

WINDHAM - Scott Singer could tell that the St. Thomas Aquinas High School boys lacrosse team was ready for Thursday's game at Windham during warmups.

The Saints carried that pregame momentum into the first quarter and built up enough of a lead that, when that energy wore off, they were able to withstand whatever the Jaguars - or themselves - threw in the way.

Penalties on St. Thomas and a dominant performance on faceoffs kept Windham in the game, but every time it looked like the Jaguars were coming back, the Saints had an answer in an 11-7 win at Windham.

Despite eight St. Thomas penalties - six in the second half - and a dominant performance on faceoffs by Windham's Robbie DePietro, the Saints were able to get the win with a strong opening to the game. St. Thomas led 3-1 at the end of one and stretched it to 5-1 early in the second quarter, and never let the Jaguars get closer than two scores.

"I thought our guys played well," Singer said. "It started with our warmups. Especially for spring break week in general, I thought this was the most focused we were coming into a game, which was finally nice to see. I thought that part was good.

"The guys kind of hit the ground running. Our offense really had it going, and maybe if we had stayed out of the penalty box, and won a few more faceoffs, we probably could have just kept our foot on the pedal. We kept it close just not being able to keep that consistent possession."

Jackson Estes led the way with three goals and an assist for the Saints (4-3 in D2), while Ryan Resch had two goals and three assists and Garrett Aceto also scored three goals. Finley De Tolla had a goal and three assists and Aidan Morrison scored twice.

Jake More finished with 14 saves as St. Thomas plenty a lot of time in its own end thanks to the penalties and DePietro winning 15 of 20 faceoffs.

Josh Trudel led Windham (4-4 in D1) with four goals as the Jaguars scored on the manup five times. Sam Kramer also had a goal and four assists and Drew Grzyb had a goal and an assist while Corey Wickman added a goal.

"We made a lot of mistakes on defense, and for our offense, it’s basic passing and catching," Windham coach Derek St. Cyr said. "We need to execute that. St. Thomas was great. They took advantage of our mistakes, which the good teams do."

Windham started the game well, winning the opening faceoff and keeping possession for almost two minutes. But a pair of shots missed the mark and a turnover led to a goal by De Tolla to make it 1-0 Saints just 2:08 into the game.

Estes made it 2-0 with 6:21 left in the opening quarter, but after a hold on the Saints, Trudel scored on the manup to make it 2-1. Another goal by Estes with 1:22 left in the first made it 3-1, and back-to-back goals by Aceto and Morrison just 15 seconds apart made it 5-1 with 10:22 remaining in the second.

The Jaguars were called for a slash just before the goal, giving the Saints a manup of their own, but after a timeout, Windham was able to kill off the penalty. Moments later, Trudel scored to make it 5-2, and then added another manup goal just 1:18 later to cut the lead to two.

The teams traded goals just nine seconds apart to keep the Saints' lead at two, 6-4, with 5:01 left in the half, but a big save by More kept the score there and set up a great finish to the half for St. Thomas.

Aceto and Resch both scored in the final 1:07 to make it 8-4 at halftime.

"Every time we had some setbacks, we pushed ahead," Singer said. "That’s kind of been the story of our season so far. We’re kind of in our own way and we haven’t worked that out yet.

"The nice thing was our offense really capitalized and just did what they’re capable of. They score. We feel we’ve got the best offense out here, we just need to give the ball more consistently. Then we need to figure out how to get out of our own way."

Windham cut the lead down to three goals on three occasions in the second half, but each time, the Saints answered. Grzyb's manup goal with 3:28 remaining made it 10-7 St. Thomas, but the Saints won the ensuing faceoff, and after a push on Windham, Resch scored a manup goal to put the game away.

"That’s what the good teams do," St. Cyr said. "For us to comeback, we had to take advantage of our offensive opportunities. Passing and catching, we don’t do that, it creates a groundball, and to their credit, they were able to win that groundball battle. That took the momentum right away from us."