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After his team squandered a two-goal lead in its sloppiest-played quarter of the season Saturday, Greenwich High School boys lacrosse head coach Scott Bulkley implored his players between the third and fourth quarters to play as one unit. Bulkley said his team has too often played as individuals after the Cardinals' last-second loss to Wilton on Thursday.
The kids finally listened to their coach against a tough Staples squad. The difference between the third and fourth quarters was night and day. Greenwich executed almost every play flawlessly, with Bulkley praising the teamwork from the sidelines on almost every pass or shot. The Cardinals scored three unanswered goals to hand the Wreckers just their second loss in two years, 8-5.
"I told them after the third quarter that the only way they were going to win is if they worked together as a team," Bulkley said. "I've been telling them all week they can't all be superstars. Everyone wants to stick the ball in the corner because it looks nice, but at the end of the day it goes down the same in the scorebook no matter how pretty it looks."
Playing in rain that got torrential at times, Greenwich had a slight edge at halftime, 5-3. Then the wheels came flying off as Staples' Kip Orban and Peter Paul promptly tied the game. Bulkley admitted Greenwich's shots on goal were some of the season's worst in the third quarter.
The main culprit of the poor shooting was Stephen Dodd, who had eight shots in the first three quarters but nothing to show for it. Dodd redeemed himself, however, collecting the game-winning goal in the fourth and adding one of Greenwich's two insurance goals.
"We definitely played better in the fourth quarter than we did in the entire game," Dodd said. "Shooting is still a problem for us. We're a defensive team, and we're working on that."
Greenwich had 34 shots but many sailed high and wide. Seven Cardinals scored, including Andrew Feeney, Alex Marcus and Jason Sands.
Greenwich will try to build on its win when it starts a three-game road trip in Danbury on Tuesday.
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