Armstrong boys lacrosse picked up one win last week amid a strong second leg of the season for the Falcons, beating Elk River/Zimmerman on May 6, before falling to Orono on May 9.
Armstrong entered last week amid a positive season with a share of difficult results. Two strong runs at the start of the season and in more recent weeks sandwiched a difficult run of three losses from April 17 to 24 against Maple Grove, Wayzata, and Rogers.
Armstrong head coach Jeff Olson spoke to the Sun newspapers after the win over Elk River, noting that the Falcons have reached a strong point of the season when it comes to handling the keys of the game.
“Tonight we did a great job with the big things. We still have to clean up some of the small stuff like ground balls, turnovers,” he said. “We try to improve game after game and I think we did tonight. ... Our top five players are really good, so we need to continue to grow our other players so we have a more even team.”
The first quarter against the Elks proved to be a tight battle. Elk River/Zimmerman took the night’s first lead with a goal three minutes into the game, prompting a response from the Falcons. It was Jameson Essen who made it 1-1, capitalizing on good work from Jack Olson with a steal in the midfield.
Elk River retook the lead twice in the quarter, but a second goal from Essen plus a goal for Olson kept Armstrong in the mix and tied 3-3 at the first break.
The Falcons began to stamp their claim on the game in the second quarter. Essen completed his hat trick and almost immediately added three more goals to make it 7-3 half way through the quarter.
Elk River/Zimmerman scored one to stay in the mix, but Aiden Robb quieted the visitors’ momentum with a goal of his own to highlight a strong midfield performance. Armstrong led 8-4 at halftime.
Elk River/Zimmerman scored two early goals in the third quarter to start the second half in ideal form. An exchange of goals, Armstrong’s by Essen after an intelligent pass from Olson, made it 9-7. The Elks then briefly made it a one-goal game at 9-8, before Armstrong surged ahead with one goal each from Logan Marsh, Robb, and Olson. Armstrong led 12-8 heading for the fourth quarter.
Brady Northrup capped off a strong supporting performance with a goal of his own at the top of the fourth quarter, setting up another cascade of goals from Olson and Robb, the latter completing a hat trick. Noah Storlie the game’s final goal, putting any chance of a comeback to bed with a goal in the second-to-last minute to make it 16-9.
Olson also discussed the youth of the squad. Armstrong graduated 15 seniors last season, including a long list of star attackers, causing a large scale shift in the roster for this season. Gelling the new and smaller wave of seniors with a sizable group of younger players is the mission.
“If you look at the people scoring, you do have seniors like Jameson Essen, but our second two scorers are sophomores,” Olson said. “They’ve got to keep up and learn from the seniors. I think our defense is playing really well and so when we all gel, we do well. I’m feeling positive about that for the rest of the season and we just need to help those underclassmen continue to improve.”
The Falcons closed the week with a tight 7-6 loss to Orono on the road on May 9. The week adjusted their conference record to 4-2, 5-4 overall.
Armstrong boys lacrosse will play one game the following week, hosting Breck om Wednesday, May 15.
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