Unbeaten Broughton boys lacrosse completes sweep of Leesville Road

Now more than halfway through its regular season slate, the N&O No. 3 Broughton boys lacrosse team still finds itself without a loss.

The Caps, who have made a habit of wearing down opponents with their high-scoring offense, picked another win with a 15-7 triumph on the road against No. 5 Leesville Road Thursday night.

With the victory, Broughton (10-0) completed a season sweep of Leesville Road (8-2), which had won eight games in a row before the matchup.

“I thought the kids worked hard all across the board,” Broughton coach Michael Raskevitz said. “We had a couple of individuals step forward. It was a little sloppy on both sides of the ball, but they’re a really good team.”

Holding onto a one-goal lead several minutes into the third quarter following a score by Leesville Road senior midfielder Isaac Thomas, Broughton scored the game’s seven next goals, five of which involved sophomore attacker Van Parker.

Parker, who has been the heart and soul of his team’s offense, finished with seven goals and three assists, and has now recorded 72 points this season.

With Parker being the focal point of their game plan, as is often the case, the Caps moved the ball around well and more times than not were getting looks at the goal from close distances.

Parker said he could tell when the defense began to key in on him a bit too much, and when that happened, he was able to find his teammates.

“It’s kind of like I can hear their footsteps,” Parker said. “I can feel them coming from behind me, so I can figure out which way to go.”

As a result, guys like sophomore attacker Gordon Guest (two goals, three assists) and junior attacker Nick Cattano (two goals, four assists) also had big nights.

Leesville Road managed to keep pace with the Caps early on, as it held a 4-3 advantage in the first quarter and trailed by only two scores after the opening half. Senior midfielder Nolan Brunick and Thomas each turned in multi-goal performances for the Pride.

But as the night went on, Broughton was able to dictate the pace of the game and at times looked clinical in its offensive set.

“Lacrosse is a game where you have to do certain things really well to stay in a game and we didn’t do that,” Leesville Road coach Franklin Zirkle said. “We didn’t pick up ground balls, we didn’t make the most of our shots and they played better than we did tonight.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Unbeaten Broughton boys lacrosse completes sweep of Leesville Road."