Wakefield boys lacrosse downs Athens Drive in nonconference action
The Wakefield boys lacrosse team earned a big nonconference win against Athens Drive 11-6 Wednesday night. The N&O No. 9 Wolverines (8-2, 7-2), who play in the Cap-8, faced their first out of conference foe of the year in Southwest Wake’s Jaguars (5-6, 4-4).
In the midst of a race for second in the Cap-8 – Wakefield is neck-to-neck with Leesville Road – seeing his team perform against a team from a top conference was encouraging for coach John Fernandez.
“It was a tough game all the way through. This gives us a lot of confidence, as it does any time you can get a ‘W’ against a quality team like Athens Drive,” he said.
The Wolverines have already surpassed their win total from last season and are eying the playoffs and more.
“We have a lot more chemistry and depth than previous years,” defensive captain Brendan Sheehan said. “We want to win a state championship.”
Athens Drive has lost four of its last six games, with all four of those losses coming to teams ranked in the News & Observer area top 10 rankings. The Jags held possession for most of the first half, holding the Wolverines to only three goals, but fell apart in the second half.
“We made too many mistakes, especially in the clearing game. We would play great defense and then give the ball right back. You can’t win games like that making too many turnovers,” Athens coach Jeff Salvado said. “A lot of our turnovers were careless.”
Athens has a trip to Holly Springs Tuesday that may likely be crucial when playoff selection comes at the beginning of May.
“They’re in our same division and we lost to them the first time in a similar fashion,” Salvado said. “It’s big for sure.”
Turning point
With Athens Drive’s Bobby Padden scoring an unassisted goal to open the fourth quarter that closed the deficit to 7-4, Ryan Finley scored a goal 83 seconds later on an assist from Kevin Ritter that sparked a three-goal run to put the game to bed.
What worked
Wakefield excelled at picking out cutters and finding men on the crease. Nine of Wakefield’s goals were assisted, including the first eight.
Three to know
Brendan Sheehan, Wakefield: Sheehan shut down Athens attackman Bobby Padden – the player with the second highest point total in the N&O leaderboard – for almost the entirety of the night before Salvado moved him to midfield change the match-up.
Drew Begin, Wakefield: Begin didn’t score, but finished with three assists. His biggest contribution came off of the stat sheet, playing a crucial role in the Wolverines’ transition game.
Peyton Smith, Athens Drive: Smith won 11-of-19 faceoffs and scored the opening goal just seconds into the game.
By the numbers
5: Players to score for Wakefield – Ryan Finley (4), Reeves Felton (2), Riley Johnson, Kevin Ritter, Cooper McKaskel (3).
8: Saves for Wolverine goalie Luke Russell.
3: Players to score for Athens – Smith, Patrick Forsyth (2) and Paden (3). Jackson Ligon also had an assist.
This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 11:22 PM with the headline "Wakefield boys lacrosse downs Athens Drive in nonconference action."