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The first day of spring isn’t until March 19, but things are already heating up in central Texas for Dripping Springs High School Lacrosse. Drip Lacrosse dealt Debbie Downers to all three teams they played last week, winning by a combined score of 43-16.
Tuesday, Feb. 20, Drip opened the season for Austin’s St. Andrews High School, winning 20-10. Friday, Feb. 23, at home, they dominated a winless Bowie High School, 18-2. The next day, Drip edged out a scrappy visiting Frisco High School squad, 5-4.
In all games, Drip dominated at face-off. The one-two punch of seniors Lucas Willingham and Brandon Magat, continued to be impossible for opponents to deal with. Magat was also recognized as one of the Hammer Practice Players of the Week heading into the Frisco game.
Versus St. Andrews Tuesday night’s contest at St. Andrews kicked off with near perfect winter weather: calm, crisp cool air and low humidity. But, with a surprise slap to the face, glorious conditions were quickly forgotten as Drip found itself down 0-2, minutes after the initial face-off.
Head coach Bill Cafferata called an early timeout, which proved to be the reset the team needed. Drip got on track with a score from senior attackman Kyle Parker. It was the ominous drop before a Hill Country thunderstorm of Drip points that followed. Parker would end up with six goals and three assists that evening.
Junior attackmen Brady Taylor and AJ Deer had their own Zeus moments, assisting, dodging and ripping shots from every angle. Taylor’s signature sweeping low, right handed side-shot repeatedly found the back of the net. According to Taylor, “I kept finding soft spots in their zone. By the time they adjusted, it was too late.”
When Taylor and Parker weren’t scoring, Deer, a newcomer to the attack position, lurked dangerously at X, dealing out assists and popping out to put the ball in the net wherever he pleased. Deer ended the night with a team-leading five assists. Parker, Taylor and Deer all notched hat tricks.
In the second half, St. Andrews swapped goalies and seemed to abandon their zone defense to try to slow down the Drip torrent, but it was too little, too late. In a second half highlight, a beautiful mid-distance heater from a charging Householder just kissed the inside of the top right post for a bar-down bench raising score. The final tally for the evening was 20-10, Drip.
Versus Bowie
After St Andrews, Drip squared off at home on Friday night against Central Texas district’s Class C Bowie High School. On another night of unseasonably beautiful Texas winter weather, Drip figured they may as well keep their own good thing going.
Bowie entered the game with an 0-2 record, 3 goals scored and 27 scored against.
Forty-five seconds into the contest, Chomout put up the first point. By the end of the first quarter, it was 9-1, Drip. Bowie was able to make some defensive adjustments in the second quarter but was shut out offensively by the stingy Drip defense. The resulting half time score was 13-1.
In the second half, Coach Caff rested starters, giving backups plenty of reps. Notably, senior midfielder Austin Reeves, the Hammer Practice Player of the Week entering the Bowie game, stepped in to give standout junior goalie Shane Roberts some rest. According to Reeves, “Yeah, I’ve played goalie before so it was fun to get back in the cage. Coach Caff told me before the game that I might go in. So, I was ready.”
With Drip backups in, the tempo of Bowie shots on goal picked up - but the newly installed goalie Reeves seemed to be enjoying it. He strung together a spectacular sequence of saves that had the Drip bench roaring in approval. Reeves’ surprise goalie play was a key contributor to the 18-2 lopsided victory.
Versus Frisco
With no rest for the weary, Drip strapped gear back on the next day to face a wellcoached, visiting Frisco squad.
Early in the first quarter, Drip appeared to be in a funk. Like the game against St. Andrews earlier in the week, Frisco took advantage of the out-of-sync Drip, scoring the first two game points in quick succession. As in the St Andrews contest, Coach Caff promptly called timeout to ‘get things sorted.’
Drip seemed to refocus after the timeout. A powerful bulldodge by Parker split two defenders on his way to racking up the first Drip point of the day.
In the second quarter, Austin Reeves cleared the ball on a coast-to-coast fast break, dodging multiple defenders as he charged the goal, somehow dropping it in for a score. Frisco added one more as well to bring the game to 2-3, Frisco, at the half.
Frisco was able to reliably clear the ball and work their offense. However, Drip defenders stymied Frisco attempts to penetrate toward the goal, forcing long missed shots and multiple shot clock violations. According to Roberts, “They were just trying to swing around the outside for shots but I don’t think they really expected to be pushed out that far.”
Senior defenseman Nate Tyo led the gritty defensive effort with three forced turnovers in the second quarter and multiple heavily contested ground balls.
The second half resumed with more of the same knockdown drag-out physical play as the first. Drip scored once in the third to bring the game to 3-3. Another Frisco point and another goal by Parker brought the game to 4-4.
With less than two minutes remaining, the game culminated in a fever pitch. At the 1:14 mark, Deer found a cutting Bruni near goal-line-extended. Bruni didn’t waste the opportunity to spin right, ripping off a shot. It found the back of the net for the game winner.
Afterward, Bruni, who was also one of the Hammer Practice Players of the Week, beamed, “That’s how we set it up. And just from repetition in the yard. … We have a lot of good shooters and work well under pressure and I think that comes in handy when they draw the slides. We can look for cuts or be a threat from anywhere.”
Drip Lacrosse ended the week with a 6-1 record, and they lead the state of Texas with 86 lacrosse goals scored this season. Its nearly 2:1 ratio of goals scored versus goals allowed, per game, is second only to Westlake and Alamo Heights High Schools in Texas High School Lacrosse League’s Central district.
Drip (6-1) squares off against Gateway (0-2) at home this Friday, March 1.
