2nd-Half Run Lifts Lacrosse over Acalanes

The boys’ varsity lacrosse team fought its way to victory during the 3rd and 4th quarters to defeat the Acalanes Dons on February 29 at Bob Wilson Stadium. The Cougars won the conference game 7-5 after trailing at the half 5-3.

According to coach Colin Knightly, the team “knew it was going to be a battle” that would come down to each individual quarter.

“And based on the history of the schools, the emotions that were going to run wild, we knew it was gonna be a wild game from start to finish,” said Knightly.

The Cougars most recently lost in overtime to Justin-Sienna on February 25.

Losing during overtime was “a little heartbreaking because it’s sudden victory and whoever scores wins,” said Knightly. “So that was on Tuesday, and I knew that we had some unfinished business coming into [the February 29 game].”

“At halftime, I pretty much challenged the boys to come out and make little plays. And if you can make little plays, it’ll all roll into them making a big game and they responded. I’m so proud of them, the way that they responded. It was outstanding,” said Knightley

The Cougars changed roles in surging from behind against Acalanes.

“The previous game against Justin-Siena, we were actually in the opposite situation; we were up and we actually let them come back in and so we knew that if we could definitely turn just our attitude and momentum around that we could kind of shift the swing of the game in our favor,” said offensive player senior Jean-Luc Axelrode. “I just think we came out a little bit more intense and a little bit crisper on offense and defense.”

Axelrode and teammate junior Sam Rack, who scored the final 2 points for the cougars, were notable contributors according to coaches and teammates. “Jean-Luc and Sam Rack stood out, they played amazing offense,” said sophomore midfielder Tyler Kivelson.

According to Axelrode, this victory moved the squad to the top of the league standings.

Kivelson expects the rest of the league competitions to continue to be “down to the wire type games,” and is hoping to “string together some more good games and get some more wins.”