BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s men’s varsity lacrosse team got off to a good start this week, routing visiting St. Andrew’s of Delaware, 12-4, at home on Tuesday.
The Mallards led 1-0 early but St. Andrew’s tied the game at 1-1 with 2:24 remaining in the first quarter. Worcester wasn’t done in the period and took the lead, 2-1, on an extra man goal by Christian Payne with just 35 seconds left in the first quarter.
Worcester Prep took charge in the second quarter with a five-goal run that improved its lead to 7-1. With just under nine minutes left in the second, Worcester’s Brad Harris scored on a nice isolation move to extend the lead to 3-1. A little over a minute later, Justin Butler tossed a perfect feed on the crease to Payne, who converted the goal for a 4-1 Worcester lead.
Payne scored on a nice move from behind the St. Andrew’s goal to extend the lead to 5-1 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. Justin Butler scored an unassisted goal at the 2:29 mark to push the lead to 6-1, and Butler scored again with 39 seconds left on a nice assist by Harris to extend the lead to 7-1. St. Andrew’s scored with seven seconds left in the first half to cut the lead to 7-2 at intermission.
In the third quarter, St. Andrew’s scored quickly on a fast break goal to cut the lead to 7-3 and suddenly it was a close game again. The score remained 7-3 for much of the third quarter before Worcester’s Will Regan scored his first goal of the game off a perfect feed from Justin Butler at the 4:27 mark to extend the lead to 8-3.
Just as it did at the end of the first half, St. Andrew’s scored on an extra man opportunity with seven seconds left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 8-4 with a whole quarter to play. With a four-goal lead and one quarter remaining, Worcester got more deliberate on offense and it paid double dividends in that it resulted in goals and helped run down the clock.
Justin Butler scored his third goal of the game on a nice assist from Max DiFilippo with just over seven minutes left to extend the lead to 9-4. Three minutes later, Harris scored on another perfect assist from DiFilippo to extend the lead to 10-4 with just over four minutes left in the game.
Worcester closed out the contest with a couple of late goals to record the 12-4 win at home. First, Jason Pappas scored on a nice assist by Will Regan, then Payne added his third and final tally of the day with an isolation move from behind the St. Andrew’s goal with just over three minutes left in the game.
Worcester plays the Tatnall School on the road in Wilmington tomorrow before returning home next week for a pair of big games with ESIAC rival Salisbury School and cross-town rival Stephen Decatur.