Stow Lacrosse Defeats Uniontown Lake in One-Sided Contest

The Uniontown Lake Blue Streaks hosted the boys lacrosse team April 5, but Stow would come away the winner in a one-sided contest.

The two varsity squads looked on before their game to watch their middle school counterparts play out a 7-1 Lake victory, but it was not long before Brett Sinning's Bulldogs took the field to stretch and warm up for a frigid cold night against the Blue Streaks.

Stow's Kevin Hoffman earned the Bulldogs the first possession of the game during his faceoff, and would get the ball out to Kyle Mossor. Mossor found Jared Baker along the way, and after his shot was batted away by the Lake goalie, Jim Griggs from Stow hit a shot from the right side to tally up the first points of the day.

It was then that things got ugly.

Jordan Mannella would be next to score—four times in a row. Hoffman continued to win his faceoffs and, in turn, Stow returned over and over again to the senior who hit a groove early in the game (Stow would win 21 faceoffs on the night. Lake only managed 2). Sophomore goalie Ryan Kevern and the Stow defense seemed to relax for a little while, essentially waiting for something to do while the offense was firing on all cylinders. When Lake did manage to break into Stow territory, Josh Crews, Jeremy Light and Matt DeBlois pestered the Blue Streaks right out, keeping Lake to only five shots the entire contest.

With 2:35 left in the first, Ryan Green buried a shot into the net to put the Bulldogs up by six. Nick Griggs and Brian Dureiko also pressed into Lake territory, but hit walls of blue as the defense swarmed quickly to avoid giving up any more points. Mannella found a way around that—again—and scored yet another goal as he tallied up five for the game. Stow's Tom Weber and Kyle Brown would be the next to get it inside, but could not capitalize. Mossor would be the final score of the first quarter: 8-0, Stow.

Jim Griggs opened up the scoring for the second by nailing a close shot three minutes into the quarter. Finally, Kevern allowed his first goal of the game as the ball hit off his stick and crept just between the pipes. The defense seemed to stiffen up after that, as DeBlois and Daniel Conte ripped away the ball from Lake attacks.

Whatever plan the Blue Streaks had drawn up to beat Stow just was not working.

A controversial call on the field with 4:55 left in the half resulted in an angry Lake coach, a removal of the Blue Streaks' goalie and the overturn of a Dureiko goal. Another Stow goal later, and the two teams would head into halftime.

Ryan Green opened up the second half with his first goal of the night, and junior Matt Modderman would be the next to put points on the board. The defense continued to keep Lake out, and when the team did get past them, Kevern would be standing at the goal, ready to make a play.

The Bulldogs scored yet again, and then it was Mossor who would get the ball out to Nick Griggs, who took his first score of the night while making it 14-1, Stow. The Bulldogs seemed to take their foot off the accelerator here, as the game was out of hand.

Many Stow players saw turf that night, including Hunter Bacorn, who took over for Kevern in the goal for the fourth quarter. The only score in the final 12 minutes would come from a Green spinning shot, and the game would end at 15-1, Stow.

The win puts the Bulldogs at 3-1 for the season, as the team prepares to travel to Green April 10, and will host Hudson High School for their first home game of the year on April 12.