Patriots roll past Stafford

Led by a balanced attack and smothering defense, Albemarle’s boys lacrosse team maintained its unblemished record on Wednesday night with a 10-3 victory over visiting Colonial Forge.
The Eagles presented a tough challenge for head coach Pat McAdams’ troops by playing a slow-down zone defense, something the Patriots had not faced up to this. Despite a slow start, McAdams was pleased that his team played patiently and overcame the Eagles’ tough defense to seal the victory.
“We were facing a zone the whole night,” McAdams said following the win. “It’s tough to get things going sometimes against a zone, but I think we were patient enough with the ball, I think we moved it well enough, and we found the guys at the right time, especially in transition.”
Senior midfielder Zac Pitts and junior attacker Bernie Mowbray each had a hat trick in the victory as the Patriots pushed their record to 5-0 and 4-0 in the Commonwealth District.
“Zac has been a big time leader on the team this year, he’s really played at a high level,” said McAdams. “He’s not only gotten better, but he’s also been able to make the guys around him better, and that’s always the mark of a great player.
“[Mowbray is] a sneaky guy. He’s tenacious and sneaky, and that’s what great attackmen do — they exploit every opportunity they have and I think Bernie tries to do that.”
Patriots senior Brent Montgomery used some last-second heroics at the end of the first quarter, scoring on an unassisted goal with just eight seconds to play to give Albemarle a 3-0 lead. Mowbray scored the first of his three goals midway through the second quarter, extending the lead to four.
Colonial Forge midfielder Brett Irby rocketed a shot past AHS goalie Gus Cramer with just three seconds remaining in the first half to put the Eagles on the scoreboard and give them a momentum boost going into the second half.
Albemarle came out firing in the third quarter as sophomore Billy Crist — who finished with three assists — scored on a nice assist from Pitts just over a minute into the third period. The Patriots went on to score four more times in the third and took a convincing 9-2 lead into the final twelve minutes.
Albemarle outshot Colonial Forge, 29-22, and won the face-off and ground ball battles as well. McAdams hopes that his team will continue playing great team lacrosse, as the ultimate goal of bringing home a state title is well within reach, provided the wins keep coming the Patriots’ way.
“This team has high expectations,” he said. “That means playing for a state championship, and in order to do that we’re going to have to keep getting better every game. We’re not there yet, but I think as we go along we’re going to get closer and closer to that point, and hopefully at the end, we’ll be there.”