Covenant cruises to win over Western

For a while, it looked like a young and developing Western Albemarle boys lacrosse team was going to hang tough with Covenant. While the Eagles were winning the battles for possession, Covenant hit the post on three of its first four shots.

It wasn’t until the final minute of the first quarter that Andy Colberg was able to put Covenant on the board, but once he did, the Eagles poured it on to pick up the 12-3 victory.

“I’m really pleased with the way the offense played,” said Covenant coach Dave Breslin. “We were up in Pennsylvania last week and we came back feeling really good about this team.”

Colberg and Luke Heinsohn picked up right where they left off last season scoring eight of the Eagles’ dozen goals. Heinsohn scored three while Colberg finished with five.

“It was just fun to be back out here,” Colberg said. “You miss it all year and then you start watching the college lacrosse which starts before us, you just get so excited.”

With Covenant up 7-0, Western Albemarle picked up their first goal when Abbot Wallenborn found the back of the net in the third quarter. Martin Palmer scored a goal and tallied an assist for the Warriors.

First year Western coach Brad Haws hopes his team takes better care of the ball in the future, as a number of unforced turnovers allowed the Eagles to dominate the time of possession battle.

“I would say [Covenant] had the ball for three quarters of the game,” Haws said. “If you give them that many opportunities, they will score.”

Western has the daunting task of replacing 19 players from last years squad.

“Our guys are young,” Haws said. “They’re learning. But they came out with intensity which I really liked. That’s a great team we just played.”

Warriors goaltender Cody Price earned Breslin’s praise. Price finished with eight saves and almost single handedly kept the Warriors in the game during the first quarter.

“They have a high quality keeper,” Breslin said. “We knew we had to shoot very well. In order to beat a great keeper you need high quality shots.”