Jack Weaver ’15 | Staff Writer

After persevering through rain and bitter cold temperatures, the boys lacrosse team came out of Tuesday night’s game with an 8-2 victory over Eisenhower (Ike). More importantly, they now lead their respected MAC division, after previously being tied with Ike, and have generated a three-game winning streak.

Historically the two teams have been front runners for the MAC title almost every year except two, during head coach Don Wolford’s career at South he said.

In the first of two meetings between the rivals, South was the first to strike late in the first quarter, off a Michael Coyle ‘16 drive and shoot play. With just 6.5 seconds left in the quarter, J.D. Norris ‘15 added to the slim lead, putting South up 2-0.

The second quarter followed suit to the first, featuring heavy defense and little offensive success: Ike scored the lone goal three minutes before the end of the half. Going into halftime, the boys held a 2-1 lead, yet once again they came out of the huddle energized, focused and motivated to succeed, Aidan Hubbell ‘15 said.

“We’ve had trouble coming out with high intensity, and we’ve had to bail ourselves out in the second half of some games,” Hubbell said. “So these second-half bursts of energy are basically the team just going nuts on the field and on the sideline, getting hype and the team feeds off of the excitement and passion.”

Despite a lackluster third quarter offensively with one goal from Michael Coyle ‘16, the defense came up huge on numerous occasions. Their biggest success was when the team was down two men on a penalty kill late in the third. South denied Ike inside lanes to the net, forced turnovers and kept Ike from scoring in the midst of a slim 3-1 lead.

“I like where we’re at skill level wise, but I do think we need to find that first half energy to beat the best teams,” Wolford said. “Now that being said, we’ve been playing some really great defense, but we need to find that energy in order to win a state championship.”

This lost energy would be found in the fourth quarter where the offense was finally able to create scoring opportunities and more importantly, capitalize on them. Goals were scored by Mac Carroll ‘15 (2), Jerry Coyle ‘15, as well as two within a 25-second span from Michael Coyle ‘16 and Jared Brush ‘15. The Blue Devils would finish the game on a 6-1 second half scoring run.

“It’s great seeing all that potential finally displaying itself,”  J.D. Norris ‘15 said. “We have one of the better teams talent-wise in the state, and now everything seems to be coming together.”

Over the past three games, the defense has allowed an average of 0.67 goals in the second half. Hubbell, defensive captain, is satisfied with the lockdown defense on display recently, but knows there’s still room to build, he said.

“There’s always room for improvement, especially with clearing the ball, but we’ve been playing together as a unit very well in the last few games, especially against Ike,” Hubbell said.

The boys seek to win their fourth straight game when they face off against Notre Dame Prep today at home at 7:30 p.m.