This wasn’t the effort coach Tim Vivian wanted to see out of his Christian Brothers Academy lacrosse team.
Section I’s Suffern limited the Brothers to one goal in the first half on its way to a 9-5 non-league victory in Saturday’s non-league game at Troy High School.
“I thought we played okay on defense. I thought we gave up a few soft goals where we lost our marks,” said Vivian. “Offensively, I thought we played a poor game. I thought we were much better offensively than what we showed.”
Vivian singled out the effort given by his son, Donald Vivian. The senior — whom coach Vivian said is an integral part of the offense — was limited to one goal the whole game and was held without a shot in the first half.
“I told him at halftime that we can’t win any games if he doesn’t take any shots,” said coach Vivian. “We’re very thin (on offense). We don’t have 15 or 16 players who can produce. So when he doesn’t produce, that takes away a good portion of our offense.”
The Brothers (0-1) responded to their first half woes by scoring three times in the third quarter to trim Suffern’s lead to 6-4. But, the Mounties pulled away with a three-goal fourth quarter.
Tom Sharp had four goals and an assist to lead Suffern to the non-league win. Aidan Murphy paced CBA with a hat trick.
Saturday’s non-league game began a stretch of six games in which CBA plays out-of-area competition. The Brothers’ next two games are at college sites — Sunday’s contest against Fordham Prep at The Bronx’s Fordham University and a home game against Vermont power Mount Anthony Tuesday, April 8, at The College of Saint Rose.
“It’ll be a great experience for the kids,” said Vivian. “We try to get these guys on to college campuses and let them experience that atmosphere.”
As for correcting what went wrong against Suffern, Vivian said that will take time — especially with a young team.
“We will continue to get better as those guys learn what we’re trying to do on defense,” said Vivian. “As we continue to work over the next two months, hopefully we’ll become the best we can be. The nice thing about this group is they’re buying into what we’re trying to do.”
CBA doesn’t play its first Big 10 game until Tuesday, April 22, when it visits LaSalle. The Brothers have only six games against league opponents in a 16-game schedule, which is fine with Vivian.
“We’ve scheduled some tough non-league games to challenge our guys, and I think our schedule is tougher than any Suburban Council team,” said Vivian.
Shaker and Colonie also started their boys lacrosse seasons Saturday. Shaker downed Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 15-4 in a Suburban Council contest, while Colonie lost to Rome Free Academy 8-5.
Shaker built a 6-2 halftime lead against BH-BL and then put the game out of reach with a five-goal outburst in the third quarter.
Matt Woods, Stephen Rehfuss, Liam King and Jared Hoff all had hat tricks for the Blue Bison. Jake Quay contributed two goals and two assists. Austin and Will Clark each tallied twice for BH-BL.
Rome Free Academy struck for four goals in the second quarter to grab a 5-2 halftime lead against Colonie. The Garnet Raiders remained within striking distance the rest of the afternoon, but they couldn’t gain ground on RFA.
Jeff Yates had two goals and an assist for Colonie.