Somers Downs Tolland in Boys' Lacrosse

Mike Hanna and Zach Thresher have been playing lacrosse together since fourth grade.

Friday evening against Tolland it showed.

The Somers High seniors combined for nine goals and three assists as the Spartans held the Eagles scoreless for over two quarters to emerge with a 15-3 win at Somers High School.

 “They initiate our offense,” Somers head coach Ken McCarthy said. “They both scored a lot of goals, but they also created a lot of opportunities for their teammates.”

After letting the Eagles pull to within 4-2 on Geoff Desmarais’ score at 1:52 in the first, the Spartans went on an 8-0 run and kept Tolland off the board until 6:18 in the final quarter.

“When we started playing disciplined things worked in our favor,” McCarthy said.” I think in the beginning we tried to do a little too much and get a little too fancy.”

Somers could have built a larger lead if not for Tolland’s Eric Horsfield. The senior goalie denied the Spartans on several early point blank shots.

“Phenomenal, just phenomenal,” Tolland head coach Victor Hurtuk said of his goalie’s play. “We knew he was going to be the backbone of the team this year and he likes that role. He probably saw 30 or 40 shots today and usually you’re only seeing 20.”

McCarthy said an adjustment by Somers helped the Spartans build on their early lead.

“Early on, we weren’t changing levels,” he said. “We were putting it on his stick and he was making some nice saves. We told the kids in between quarters that we need to start mixing it up and [shooting] it in different spots.”

Thresher and Hanna scored the final two goals of the second quarter to put Somers up 9-2. Thresher’s came at 2:27, while Hanna connected with seven seconds left in half, driving towards the right post and ripping a shot past Horsfield.

“Zach and I have been playing since fourth grade. When he’s dodging strong from behind he knows I’m cutting in. Same from up top. He’s cutting inside while I’m dodging in and we just find each other,” Hanna said.

For Tolland, it was a season opener that saw them down eight starters and 13 seniors from last year’s team.

“It’s a learning curve,” Hurtuk said. “We’re young, so they’ll just have to bide their time.”            

Thresher had five goals and an assist, while Hanna had four goals and two helpers. Neil Cardwell had two goals and two assists for the Spartans.  Jeremy Clavette and Tony Defelice added scores for Tolland.

Tolland (0-1) will travel to Conard Monday at 4 p.m., while Somers (2-0) travels to Morgan Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.