Butler races by Baldwin, 24-1
BUTLER TWP — Square at one against visiting Baldwin in the first quarter of Monday night’s boys lacrosse matchup, Butler answered.
Then the Golden Tornado (2-0) added on.
And added on.
And added on 21 more times after that in an overwhelming 24-1 victory.
“We’re winning face-offs, then with that high transition, we’re able to — boom, boom, boom — score real quick, do another face-off,” second-year Butler coach Justin Steiner said. “That allows us to get a good transition and play Make It or Take It and get four goals in a span of 40 seconds.”
Steiner was referring to a brief stretch in which senior Jaxon Salata netted a pair and classmate Ayden Davis and freshman Deacon Simko both scored over 38 seconds in the opening frame.
Part of 23 unanswered tallies, that surge answered a goal by the Highlanders’ Anthony DiCesaro 2:22 into the game. DiCesaro’s marker leveled the count at one after Jake Stevens’ gash 39 seconds in.
Davis logged nine goals on the night, the highlight being a sequence that resembled a hockey player fighting for the puck on the boards. He prodded the rubber ball away from a pair of defenders — out-witting them by spinning and smacking it around on the snow-dusted turf — before finding a window to shovel it up and dump it past the Baldwin (0-2) net-minder.
“I was really just trying not to let him get the ball,” Davis said. “It was just outsmarting the kid and just trying to keep the ball where he’s not at. I finally got it into open space and just picked it up and took it to the net.”
Steiner was pleased with the solo effort, adding that he’d like such plays to be commonplace with his cast.
“That’s the kind of stuff that we do every day,” he explained. “We normalize playing the ball on the ground and stuff like that. If you can’t get it off of one clean pickup, you’re supposed to hockey it into space. That way you can go and pick it up with no one around you.
“We kind of normalize that kind of play style.”
Stevens finished behind Davis with seven goals, while Salata had three. Freshman Nolan Cranmer, sophomore Mason Lacey, junior Brock Collins, and senior Ian Wilson also got on the board. The Golden Tornado out-shot their guests, 45-2.
The powerful offensive effort in below-freezing temperatures and a light wind meant the Butler has piled up 45 goals in its initial two outings.
“I told the guys from the get-go, ‘Hey, when it’s weather like this, no one wants to play here, so let’s be that nightmare.’” Steiner said. “We want to embrace it, we want to be the tough guys here, and we want to be the grittiest.”
