Burlington
There was little need for the horns by halftime, however, when the top-seeded Bears led by six en route to a 10-0 victory. Second-seeded Hartford, which finished 3-11 in Division II last season, saw its postseason run in the first-year, seven-team Division III draw come to a disappointing end.
“Part of me feels like you never lose; they just shut the game down a little early,” said Hartford coach Bill Elberty, whose team finished 10-6. “In life, it’s not whether you win a state title, it’s whether you quit or you strap them up every day. Our kids never quit.”
Said senior Jason Bielecki: “I’m feeling a little sad, but we’ve come a huge way from last year. I don’t think (the lower division) had anything to do with it. I think the (youth) feeder program has been a big factor in this. We had three or four freshmen on this team who were starters all season.”
Elberty said it took until halftime for he and his nervous troops to deduce how best to defend a Stratton offense that moved the ball quickly and sometimes swept in from one side, using double picks to strong effect. The Bears often drew the crease defender out of position, Elberty said, leaving space for another attacker to pop into the opening, receive a quick pass and get an unobstructed shot on goaltender Chris Dorain. The junior had 14 saves.
“They were exceptionally active and their timing coming off the picks was really good,” Elberty said. “We’ve never faced a team with that kind of offensive set. They look like a college team because they have the time to practice like a college team.”
Elberty added that while he’s flummoxed by how a public school that practices off campus can compete with a private institution where athletics play a much larger role, he relishes the challenge. Stratton beat Hartford by 9-8 and 7-2 scores during the regular season.
“I don’t mind playing them,” Elberty said. “I don’t begrudge them. But our guys are just normal high school kids from a blue-collar town. It’s a puzzle to me how to get our lacrosse IQ to where theirs is without that kind of field time.”
Bears attackman Mike Fischer said he and his teammates work out individually twice a day in addition to practicing whichever team sport is in season. Fischer said he’s played lacrosse since he was a kindergartner and that he looks forward to it after concentrating on the giant slalom each winter.
“We’re always, always doing athletics,” said the native of Westchester County, N.Y., who hopes to compete in NCAA Division I skiing and Division III lacrosse in college, perhaps at St. Lawrence University. “It pays off.”
Hartford’s Bielecki shadowed the 5-foot-5 Fischer the entire game, but the Bear still managed a game-high eight shots and a goal. He called Bielecki the best Vermont defender he’d faced this spring and the Hurricane returned the compliment.
“He had, like, four goals in each game before I locked him off,” said Bielecki, who hopes to play at Castleton University next season. “He’s really fast and I had to keep one eye on him and one eye on the ball.”
Stratton (13-3) led by three goals after a quarter, the last of those tallies coming when two Hurricanes defenders failed to switch as their marks crossed behind the net. Left alone, Stewart Olson curled out front and tallied on a bounce shot. Dorain made five saves during the opening stanza, three of them on point-blank attempts, and the Bears hit the posts and crossbar five times during the game.
Stratton scored three more time during the second quarter, twice converting off short feeds from behind the cage. Hartford, meanwhile, didn’t take its first shot until seven minutes of the second frame expired.
“We just didn’t have an offense today,” said Elberty, whose team scored 10 goals in the quarterfinals and 13 in the semifinals. “We had five or six good (scoring) looks, but (Stratton) has great feet and they were as prepared on defense as they were on offense. How do you cope with a systemic IQ that only comes from hours of regimented practice?”
How does one handle such a crushing loss? Elberty just smiled.
“I don’t even think about that,” he said. “I got to watch my kids have a blast playing lacrosse.”
Notes: The game started roughly 15 minutes early as organizers attempted to beat approaching storms. Play was halted because of thunder with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and shortly after 6 p.m. It didn’t resume for an hour, when the lights were turned on. … Hartford was outshot, 29-17. … The Hurricanes practiced on Hanover’s turf field in preparation for playing on the same type of surface at BHS. … Hartford’s Gavin Shropshire didn’t have his usual No. 10 jersey available and donned No. 41. … Bob Johnson, head of student activities for the VPA, said his office has denied a request from the family of Hartford High senior Jacob Perkins to play high school athletics in the state for the 2016-17 academic year. Perkins suffered a knee injury early in the 2015 football season and missed all of the 2015-16 basketball campaign. He is currently playing baseball for the Hurricanes. “There is no ‘redshirt rule’ and there are no exceptions,” Johnson said.