WALES — Gage Spier tacked on eight more points to his growing total this season with four goals and four assists for Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon/St. Dom’s in Friday’s 16-7 win over Fryeburg in a Class C quarterfinal boys lacrosse game.
Oak Hill (10-5) coach David Snyder said the junior has 78 points, with 26 goals and 52 assists, so far this season.
“Gage is just a player that’s just been really good late in the season,” Snyder said. “That should put him at about 78 points for the season, which is just an absolute phenomenal season.
“We’ve been really happy with his output all year, but because of the so many assists, he’s kind of been in the background.”
Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon/St. Dom’s, the second seed, will face third-seeded Wells (12-3) in the semifinals, slated for Tuesday at Oak Hill High School.
Seven players contributed to the 17 goals scored against 10th-seeded Fryeburg (6-8). Snyder said that type of involvement was uncharacteristic for the team early in the spring.
“So to start off the season, we were really focused on three or four players that were really scoring all of our goals,” Snyder said. “For us to keep going through the season, expanding and getting more people involved, it’s really good for us, especially going into the postseason.”
Lukas Bergeron scored five goals, which puts him two shy of 100 career goals. His first goal was a fast-ripped shot from well outside the top of the 12-meter area.
“I had a nice shot that went top right, lower down, and I was incredibly proud because I didn’t know if this was going to be my last senior game, and it was really nice to be able to put one in the net like that,” Bergeron said.
He added that it’s been good to see younger players generate scoring opportunities in addition to the senior leaders.
“It’s super nice to see some of the younger guys and some of the guys that might not be as confident step up and be able to put some of the back of the net, because we have me and my teammate, Adam (Hinkley), we’re some of the top scorers,” Bergeron said. “So it’s really nice to see the juniors and sophomores step up and put some in the back of the net, because they’re there to be the future of this team.”
Spier said the Oak Hill Raiders knew the Fryeburg Raiders were a gritty, physical team, and they expected them to come out strong.
Oak Hill came out stronger, though, scoring four goals in the first quarter and adding four more in the second.
While the Oak Hill dominated offensively, they were also effective defensively, getting the ball back in transition and shutting down Fryeburg’s clearing attempts.
Cleaning up midfield transitions is something the Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon/St. Dom’s has worked on this season, Bergeron said, because it’s been a weak point in the past.
“We’ve really locked down on that clear, and even though it’s been tedious, and some of us just want to like shoot around and do other stuff, we’ve really locked in on that and really helped our game tremendously,” Bergeron said.
Despite the loss, Fryeburg coach Tucker Barnaby said he was proud of his team’s effort Friday and this season — it doubled its win total from last year.
“We kept going, you know, we worked hard,” Barnaby said. “We rode hard, the kids played a good game. I mean, that was a good team, we just played a very well put together team. They’re a little better than us, and they earned the No. 2 spot — that’s why they did it, they’re a good team.”
Senior Mark Mageles was in net for the Fryeburg Raiders and tallied 17 saves 34 shots. Several of those saves were point-blank from an undefended attackman right on top of the crease.
“This is Mark’s second year of playing the game, so Mark’s done a great job,” Barnaby said. “He’s been a leader, he’s a senior leader. We’re going to miss him next year. We talked him into playing last year and he fell in love with it, so he did a great job. He’s a good player and a good athlete.”
Fryeburg’s class of three seniors — Mageles, Tyler Bartick and Idan Or — will be missed, Barnaby said, because of their love for life, the game and the hustle it takes to play high school lacrosse.
Oak Hill’s semifinal against Wells will be the teams’ first meeting of the season.
“I’m expecting a close game, physical and we’ve just got to come really prepared,” Spier said.
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