Despite cold weather, lax can't cool down Devils

The boy's lacrosse team had to bear high winds, near-freezing temperatures, and even snowfall in this unusually frigid spring showdown between Blair and its cross-town rivals, Springbrook. The Blazers braved the elements only to be defeated 8-4 tonight in their first home game of the season.

The Blazers seemed to have trouble with basic fundamentals, such as picking up ground balls, getting by defenders, shooting and defending. They fall to 2-1 for the season, having recorded a key 8-7 win over Kennedy and a 12-3 trouncing of Gaithersburg, while the Devils improved to 2-1.

The Devils won the opening face-off and never looked back, as they jumped to an early 3-0 lead and had another shot hit the goalpost before Blair senior Noah Pierce's unassisted goal with 5:05 remaining in the first half ended the shutout.

After the first half, in which the team couldn't capitalize on key offensive opportunities and trailed 4-1, Blair began to play smothering defense. Unfortunately, a six minute defensive lapse in the middle of the second half yielded four more consecutive Springbrook goals.

A fourth quarter goal by junior Alex Berger swayed the momentum to the Blazer side. Junior Keith Larkin then scored two goals in the final three minutes of the game. Junior Josh Gottlieb-Miller led the team with two assists.

Larkin feels that when the Blazers needed more consistency against Springbrook. "We had too little, too late...Our team typically does get charged up when we're down," he said.

Fifth year coach Bob Gibb was dissatisfied by the team's lack of intensity. "I was very disappointed. This was not a particularly strong Springbrook team. If we played with intensity for the whole game, it could have been a different game," he said.

Gibb added that his starters need to play better in order to be victorious in the future. "Those were our best players out there," he said, "and if they're not getting it done, then we're not going to be successful." The Blazers will get a chance to redeem themselves when Blair next plays at Einstein on Apr 2, at 7:00pm.