WALES – For more than a week, they’ve been nursing their bruised optimism.

When the Oak Hill Raiders lost to Lincoln Academy last week, their confidence was shaken in the process, but it didn’t take long for the boys’ lacrosse team to get it back Friday in a 10-4 win over Mt. Blue.

“We thought we were going to be pretty good,” said Oak Hill coach Dave Wing. “We went down to Lincoln and stunk it up. We told them Friday, (Mt. Blue) is undefeated. We said ‘If you want to be at the top, you’ve got to beat them.'”

Mt. Blue (4-1) was second in the latest Eastern B Heal Point standings and were unbeaten entering Friday’s matchup with the fourth-ranked Raiders (4-1). The Cougars beat Lincoln Academy handily, but the Raiders rebounded from the 9-4 loss to LA to produce a fine effort against the Cougars.

In an aggressive and physical game, the Cougars took 10 penalties. Those proved costly in the second quarter when the Raiders scored four straight goals to build a lead.

“Penalties killed us,” said Mt. Blue coach James Black. “We were in the box it seemed more than we were on the field. They made us pay when we were a man down. We haven’t been down that much all year. I think it was a new area for us.”

Tyler Pomerleau had three goals and two assists for the Raiders. Nick Brown had three goals and an assist. Drew Jannelle had a pair of goals while Jake Girard had a goal and two assists.

Mt. Blue got a pair of goals from Lance Dwight and tallies by Zac Conlogue and Derek Rowe.

Conlogue and Dwight scored in the final 1:38 of the first half to get Mt. Blue within 5-3 at the half, but the Cougars struck just once in the second half.

“We’ve been struggling to find the open guy and get open,” said Black. “We worked a bunch on that this week, but we’ll have to do some more work on it before we get too far here.”

The Raiders got a strong defensive effort and some nice saves from Daniel Fontaine in the second half. He had nine stops after coming in for Caleb Fournier at the half.

“I have to give it to our D,” said Pomerleau. “Our defense really stepped up. We played man-to-man solid. We don’t have a fast defense, but when it comes to knowing where they’re supposed to be and talking, I’d put them up against the best in the league. They’re there whenever we need them.”

The Cougars had the only goal in the first quarter, a Rowe shorthanded tally with 1:19 left. Oak Hill scored five goals in the second. Most came with the Cougars a man down. Mt. Blue had seven penalties in the first half and were down three men when Zack Provost scored to tie it at 11:08.

“With a man up, you want to settle it down and get your opportunities, especially when they had three players in there,” said Pomerleau. “You don’t want to rush it. Then they get the ball and run it down field. You want to settle it down and just look for your chances.”

Pomerleau scored two straight, and Brown scored with 3:59 left on a man advantage to make it 4-1. Pomerleau had a goal between scores by Conlogue and Dwight in the final minutes.

In the third quarter, Brown and Girard scored to make it 7-3. Then Jannelle scored a pair to open the fourth. Brown netted his third for a 10-3 advantage.

“They’re a speedy team and you’ve got to keep the ball,” said Wing, who said his team struggled with balls on the ground against Lincoln. “You can’t let them have it. The idea is to get the ground balls. So they can’t have it.”