Long wait between games beneficial for Wooster lacrosse team

Eighteen days is a long time to reflect and practice.The Wooster boys lacrosse team opened its season with a rough loss at the hands of Jackson and then faced an 18-day break between games because of a scheduling conflict. That break now seems to have worked out well for the Generals, who have won four games in a row, including a 7-5 decision over University School April 17.Included in that streak are wins over Lake Catholic, Wadsworth and Akron Hoban, and while the winning is nice, first-year coach Ben Drushal knows that is a result of all that practice and how his team is performing on the field.“I’m really happy with the way the guys are working out and the attitude and the new coaching staff,” said Drushal. “Everyone is working well as team.“The one thing that’s helped is our team chemistry. Everyone on the team gets along. There is always bickering here and there, but as a whole everyone gets along. In year’s past not everyone has gotten along. That’s one of the biggest keys this year -- team chemistry and getting along.“On one hand it was really good to have that extra time off between games, but on the other hand it hurt us a little,” said Drushal. “But, we were itching to play. We honed a lot of our skills, so that was beneficial. But, it’s hard to go that long between games and keep the intensity up.”The Generals survived that and that improvement was evident in the Generals’ home-opening game against Lake Catholic.“That was the best the guys have played together,” said Drushal. “We started jelling as a team and played unselfishly. They were always looking for that one more, that extra pass. Just like in basketball, they were looking for that guy who was open with that extra pass. We were executing well, looking for that extra guy and not forcing a bad shot.“Our offensive ability (early) has been better than anticipated,” he added. “Our returning players were found in our defense. Our offense had a couple seniors, but the majority of the guys are juniors and sophomores and I thought we might struggle being a younger team. One advantage our guys have is they have played together since third or fourth grade, so there is that continuity and that has overcome the shortcomings of being a younger offensive unit.”Defensively, the Generals’ returnees are Grant Logee, Adam Barnard, along with goalie Ben Bergman, “who are all playing very well,” said Drushal. “Ben has been playing well. He’s had some clutch saves in the cage. In the Lake Catholic game, he had some of the best clearing passes he’s had all year. He wasn’t in a big hurry and he made smart decisions.”Wooster’s leading scorer through four games has been Cooper Irwin, who has nine goals, followed by Greg Gantz, who has eight goals and eight assists, and Reid Delaney, who also has eight tallies.Drushal was also pleased with an off-field factor that is helping the team.“In our home opener I was really proud of the community support,” he said. “We had 90 adults and 90 kids – we had close to 200 people in the stands. We were really happy with the community support in the game.”Wooster will travel to Strongsville April 20.