West Lacrosse Gives Up Early Lead, Falls to Garden City

Despite senior Kyle Keenan scoring twice in the first quarter, giving the Bulls a 2-0 lead, the Trojans’ balanced offensive attack and strong defense for the following three quarters gave them the 6-2 win Saturday afternoon at Warren King Field in Garden City.

“The defense really adjusted and we got a little stagnant,” Keenan said. “We just have to learn how to adjust when defenses adjust.”

Keenan put the ball in the back of the net twice, one goal assisted buy junior James Pannell and the other unassisted with 2:29 left in the first quarter.

West coach Sean Keenan said the team’s offense was strong throughout the game but couldn’t capitalize off of opportunities.

“We had our opportunities, we just didn’t finish,” he said. “We had plenty of opportunities, we hit the goalie in the facemask, a couple of pipes, we just have to put the ball in the cage.”

Garden City coach Steve Finnell said the way the Trojans played defense in the first quarter could have helped West go up 2-0 early, and the adjustments his team made after the first quarter got them the win.

“We really felt like we created for them, we tried to double when the ball was behind and maybe gave them an open look at the cage, but Keenan doesn’t need any help so we tried some good on-ball defense and we tried to deny them good opportunities,” Finnell said. “They’re going to get shots but we wanted them to be low angle shots and limit their touches.”

Trojans’ junior goalie Dan Marino, who held the Bulls scoreless for three quarters after letting up two goals in the first, said the defensive adjustments made it difficult for the best players on West to produce offensively. 

“We changed up our matchups and we tagged lines a little bit, we shut down their best guys,” he said. “They’re a very talented offensive team, I’ve got to give it up to them, but our defense is incredible.”

Six different Trojans scored Saturday – juniors Rob Savage and Patric Berkery in the second quarter, senior Brian Coleman in the third quarter, and junior Mark Ellis and seniors JP Burnside and Tom Gordon in the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss, coach Keenan said the team benefited from this game.

“We’ll get better from it, they are a very, very good team, they’re ranked two in the nation … we got better today by playing them,” he said.