BOULDER— The Fairview boys lacrosse team did all the work of earning the man-ups Monday night, their second game of the season.
Step two: finding the right looks that are going to prove successful on those precious chances.
Fairview drew 11 penalties against Grandview, giving them ample opportunities to be able to work on the power play, but their failure to score was a knock against them in a 10-9 loss to the Wolves.
“We didn’t convert as many man-up opportunities as we had hoped, so that’s something we’ll be working on,” said coach Michael Flood, whose team dropped to 0-2 on the season, losing those contests by a combined three goals.
“Penalties were a pretty big thing tonight, and we just have to capitalize,” said Connor May, who had three goals and two assists in the contest. “It’s gonna be tough, and those are things we’re going to continue to work on throughout the season.”
Ultimately, after a season-opening setback to Highlands Ranch last week, the Knights wanted to see their defensive effort improve, knowing the offense put up 11 scores against the Falcons.
In that respect, they fared well against Grandview. However, there were a couple of key stretches where the Wolves were able to manuever through the middle of the field, cutting in to prime scoring territory.
Grandview outscored Fairview 4-2 in the third quarter, with three goals coming in a stretch of 2 minutes from swift-sticked attackmen Quinn Moore and Josh Melton.
Those two combined for eight of the visiting team’s 10 goals.
“This one’s a little bit of a stinger, and I thought we had this one because we were playing good for quite awhile,” said midfielder Josh Drake. “They had a couple guys that had good stick skills, no doubt about it. We play our game and do what we can, and if somebody can come out and take those those kinds of shots and make them, good for them.”
Fairview started off well, with junior attacker Connor May scoring both. Charlie Beckman and Blake Josenhans added two early goals in the second, giving FHS a 4-1 lead with 9:47 left.
Fairview had a couple chances to extend that lead, but could not find the net again until there was just 1:16 left in the half. By then, Grandview had tied it up at 4-all.
The game was tied three more times before Grandview reeled off four straight. Quinn Carrigan and Matt Wantz scored within 48 seconds of each other to get it to 10-9 with 4:37 to go, but the Knights could break the goal line again.
“We need to be able to finish games, do all 48 minutes,” May said. “One thing that’s special about this team is we don’t hang our heads. We keep going, keep pushing, and that’s quality.”
“We’ve had our opportunities, and the guys have worked hard on both sides of the ball,” Flood said. “Both games, we’ve our heads in it all the way until the end and weren’t ready to give up.”
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Grandview 10, Fairview 9
At Fairview HS
Grandview 1 4 4 1 — 10
Fairview 2 3 2 2 — 9
Goals — Fairview: Quinn Carrigan 2, Connor May 3, Blake Josenhans 1, Matt Wantz 1, Charlie Beckman 2.
Assists — Fairview: May 2, Carrigan 1, Josenhans 1, Wantz 1, Colton Jackson 1.
Goalies (Min-Goals allowed-Saves) — Fairview: Ben Boggs (48-10-5).
