Raiders pick up lacrosse program’s second win

The Hastings boys lacrosse team picked up the program’s second win on Wednesday, April 25, beating Forest Lake, 8-4.

Within the first few minutes of the game, Hastings scored three quick goals and held a 4-1 lead after the first quarter.

From that point on, though, the Rangers played Hastings well, slowing the Raiders and keeping things close.

“We just couldn’t get much momentum going the rest of the game, and the second half we started playing sloppy,” coach Brian Jenson said. “When we have the lead, we can’t change how we approach the game. We need to continue applying pressure and play as if it’s still 0-0. Regardless, it was nice to get that next win. We have a week off before we start the second half of our season.

"Hopefully that will allow us to recover, re-evaluate our approach, and give us some momentum moving forward.”

Hastings got four goals in the game from Sam McGree. Two goals were scored by Logan Chilson, while Jordan Burr and Nick Baum also added goals.

Assists were earned by Michael Gegen, Zach Chilson, Burr and Colin Shoen.

Brian Willson was the Hastings goalie. He made nine saves on 13 shots.

Logan Chilson had four ground balls, while Brandon McCarthy and Isaiah McCullough each had three.

Vs. East Ridge

Hastings lost to East Ridge on April 23, 10-8.

The Raiders trailed 8-3 at halftime.

“(We) turned it up in the second half, especially on the defensive end, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback,” Jenson said. “We figured out how to slow their offense down, and we controlled the ball most of the third quarter, which really gave our defense a break. That was definitely our best quarter all game. Our rides were perfect, and we caused a lot of turnovers to keep the ball out of our end of the field. We slowly got more and more comfortable on offense, but they made some great saves to keep the lead. We made a good run at the end, we just fell short.”

McGree had three goals to lead the offensive attack for the Raiders. Shoen had two goals, while Brandon McCarthy, Burr and Mikey Smith each had one goal.

Assists were made by Burr and Smith.

Colin Shoen had five ground balls, Brandon McCarthy had four, and Logan Chilson had three.

Zach Chilson was the Hastings goalie. He made 16 saves on 26 shots.

Notes

Hastings has a 2-3 record in Suburban East Conference play.

White Bear Lake leads the Suburban East Conference with a 5-0 record.

Hastings is getting healthier, and the week off between the Forest Lake game and the one on Wednesday here against Mounds View has helped.

“We finally got starting defensemen Connor Stoker and Alex Boyer back from injury, so it’s nice to have more depth on the defensive end,” Jenson said. “However, Andrew Cordell injured himself early in the East Ridge game and has been out ever since. That was a big setback for us. Andrew has been our top face-off specialist so far, and he’s one of our best all-around middies, so we’ve had to fill in different guys to make up for his absence.

“Other players have missed games here and there as well, and we’re still trying to find everyone’s role on the team. With all the injuries, we haven’t had any consistency with our lineup, so it’s been hard to get in a rhythm.”

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