Lacrosse Teams Find Success At Anthony Wayne

BY J. PATRICK EAKEN | MIRROR SPORTS — The Anthony Wayne boys lacrosse team kept pace in the Northern Lakes League, improving to 4-0 with an 8-1 win at Southview on April 22.

The Generals outshot the Cougars, 25-10, and got three goals from junior attack Alex Talbert, who also had an assist.

Junior midfielders Ty Grooms and Colin DiMario scored two goals each and senior attack Marcus Villagomez, Jr. had one goal and three assists. Junior midfielder Jeffrey Mold Jr. scored and senior midfielder Josh Swagler had an assist.

Grooms was crucial to the win, though. He was 7-for-10 in winning faceoffs, while freshman midfielder Michael Weiss was 4-for-4. Grooms says it takes “dedication” to win those.

“It is just fighting for that ground ball, really,” he said. “It’s great for possessions and we just need those possessions. It is really valuable.”

The Generals’ best period was the second, when they outshot Southview 12-2, won all five faceoffs and scored four goals to take a 6-0 halftime lead.

Southview’s only goal was scored by senior attack Carson Lewis with 3:02 remaining in the third period.

AW associate coach Blake Alberts said the staff was concerned that the team was not playing aggressively, despite the win.

“The biggest thing is making sure we get ground balls,” he said. “We have to be able to fight in those scrums and come out with those.

“Another thing we really need to focus on is passing and catching because that’s what is separating us from the other teams right now.

“We have really good players and we have potential, but we need to be able to pass and catch at this point. If we can pass and catch, this game might be a different story.”

Alberts is the brother of Mason and Chase Alberts, who were lacrosse standouts at Anthony Wayne. 

Mason is now playing wide receiver for the NCAA Division II University of Findlay football team, but he lost his senior year of lacrosse at AW because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Generals returned to league play with two games this week – they hosted Northview on Tuesday and travel to Perrysburg for a 6:30 p.m. contest on Thursday.

On Saturday, AW (4-3 overall) hosts Brunswick at 1:00 p.m. in a non-league contest.

Girls Team

The Anthony Wayne girls lacrosse team defeated Clay, 8-6, at Clay Memorial Stadium’s Ted Federici Field on April 22 to get over the .500 mark on the season.

On Friday, the Generals did one better, defeating Northview 9-7 on Senior Night in a Northern Lakes League match-up to improve to 5-3.

“Even though we have a lot of new players, everybody is learning how to communicate with one another and everybody is working as a team,” said first-year coach Jourdain Mulholland.

“We tell all the girls we need to do everything with a purpose and they are going out there and doing everything with a purpose.”

AW was led by senior Izzy Serra, who scored four times in the win over Clay.

“I think what is working for us right now is we have really good team chemistry,” Serra said. “Our team has become really close and our senior girls have really stepped up.

“I think our defense has really stepped up communication-wise, shifting-wise, and our attack is really good at getting open and moving and I think we’re getting in the right space at the right times.”

Serra thought it was her first goal that “really set the momentum.”

“After that we got it together. We only needed that first goal to get us started and then after that we were all pumped up and excited, so that was what really helped us.”

Kendall Puls scored with 6:49 remaining in the first half to put Anthony Wayne up 5-2, but Clay came charging back with two goals to make it close, 5-4, at intermission. 

The Eagles goals were scored by Emily Ashley and Kiri Thibert.

AW freshman Grace Emahiser scored to open the second half and then Serra scored with 12:18 to go in the game to put the Generals back up by three, 7-4.

Clay’s Emily Ashley got her third goal with 6:23 remaining, but AW junior Lilly Schaller scored to take it back to a three-goal lead late in the game.

Lexi Huntermark added the final goal for the Eagles with just over a minute remaining.

AW has only two seniors, Serra and Olivia Gedman, who were honored on senior night.