Friday, May 9
MANCHESTER — Bill Elberty has said it enough times to have the answer on the tip of his tongue. When people ask the Woodstock boys lacrosse coach about his offensive prodigy, Alex Brands, there's only one way for the coach to explain it.

"He's really taken off, and no one can stop him," Coach Elberty said.

Burr and Burton Academy certainly couldn't on Thursday, as Brands led the Wasps to a 9-7 victory over the host Bulldogs with a six-goal outburst. Brands also assisted on Evan Doubleday's game-winner late in the fourth quarter and added an insurance goal moments later.

Brands' banner day highlighted an up-and-down affair that saw six lead changes. The Bulldogs led on four separate occasions, but the Wasps' rebuttal never took long to materialize; four of Woodstock's goals came within a minute of BBA finding paydirt.

"It's a fast-break game," Coach Elberty said, noting Brands' excellent playing relationship with teammate Josh Robinson. "If you do step back, they'll step up."

The quick payback kept BBA from building any momentum, and the Bulldogs never led by more than two goals.

BBA took its first lead late in the first quarter when sophomore

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midfielder Nick Perni charged through a seam in the defense to drive a close-range ball past Woodstock goalkeeper Nick Mora.

Brands tied the game less than two minutes later at the 2:18 mark off a feed from Doubleday, and Ben Brownlee gave the lead back to BBA with seven seconds remaining in the period when he put away a pass from senior Jesse Myerson.

Chris Murray and Brands traded goals early in the second quarter, and Stirling Cobb picked up the first of his two goals with 1:39 remaining in the half, finishing off a fast break that started when Murray collected a ground ball at midfield.

Woodstock then offered its most immediate answer of the day; Robinson fed Brands in stride to cut BBA's lead to 4-3 just six seconds after Cobb scored. Exactly 24 seconds after that, Brands scored his fourth goal of the game to tie the match at 4-all.

Cobb found the back of the net to open scoring in the second half at the 7:03 mark of the third quarter, and Brands assisted on Robinson's only goal 57 seconds later to tie it back up at 5-5.

Murray scored his second goal of the day with 5:05 left in the period, marking the last time the Bulldogs would lead; Brands notched his fifth goal at 2:44 and Timmy Barrett gave Woodstock a 7-6 lead with just over a minute remaining.

The start of the fourth quarter offered the Bulldogs their best chance of the afternoon to pull ahead. In a random equipment check between quarters, officials found Woodstock's Liam Elberty in possession of an illegal stick. One referee illustrated the point at the scorer's table, inserting a ball into the basket and then turning the stick upside down. The ball didn't move.

Liam Elberty defended the stick, saying he thought he had fixed the problem earlier in the week. He was nonetheless hit with a three-minute unreleasable penalty to start the fourth quarter. But instead of marking a turning point in the contest, BBA was frustrated throughout the man-advantage, and in the face of Woodstock's disciplined zone defense, managed only one shot on goal.

"I give them credit for being tenacious on defense," BBA head coach Wil Mackey said of the sequence. "They slide very quickly ... so it's hard to get in a rhythm."

The missed opportunity was not the end of BBA's offensive day, however, and Murray capped his hat trick with 5:06 left in regulation, catching a long transition pass from Cobb in stride before working in close to Mora for the score.

But as was the case all afternoon, Woodstock's answer was almost immediate, and the final lead change occurred with 4:20 remaining; Doubleday beat goalkeeper Tim Russell on the keeper's left side for the eventual game-winning goal. Brands finished off his second hat trick with an insurance goal 18 seconds later.

Mackey acknowledged a tendency on his team's part to play somewhat lax in the wake of a goal, but he extended the majority of credit to Woodstock.

"They did a good job of stepping up when they needed to," Mackey said. "Both teams played hard, and it was good lacrosse."

Woodstock improved to 6-2 on the year and will travel to face Hartford on Tuesday. The Bulldogs fell to 5-2 and take on Greenwich (N.Y.) at home on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Girls: W'stock 16, BBA 10

WOODSTOCK — The Burr and Burton Academy girls lacrosse team fell to host Woodstock on Thursday by the score of 16-10.

Kristen Palmer led BBA with six goals and an assist. Robin O'Neill scored once and added an assist while teammates Jenny Coppin, Sarah Shehadi and Molly Dexter each scored once. Tess Montague also notched an assist and BBA goalkeeper Paige Emond made 10 saves on the day.

Woodstock was led by a superlative effort from Callie Dellimer, who scored seven times and notched three assists.

The Lady Bulldogs fell to 3-5 and will face MAU at home on Tuesday.