DOVER – Standing on the sideline after a 14-3 boys lacrosse win over St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Winnacunnet senior attackman Jack Ellis described his team’s offense with a unique analogy.
“A six-headed monster,” Ellis said.
That ‘six-headed monster’ consists of Ellis, fellow seniors Cole Fisher, Ben Chase, Ben Merrick, junior Colin Kimball and sophomore Caleb White.
“That first starting six, it’s really all of them,” Winnacunnet head coach Pat Snow said about the Warriors’ start to the season. “There’s not one guy doing it more than any other. It seems like every game we have somebody that’s getting the points, but if you look at the book it’s been pretty balanced across the board.”
White had a team-high four goals as Winnacunnet won for the sixth time in as many games, while Ellis, Fisher, and Chase all had three goals.
White came into this season with zero varsity experience and missed the first two games of this season with an injury.
“I missed the first two games, but I’m excited to be back with the boys,” White said. “A lot of (my goals) were just inside finishes; fast breaks, one of them was a great pass from Jack (Ellis), silky finish.”
Once White came into the lineup, the six offensive starters have combined for 45 goals in four games.
“There’s definitely no liabilities,” Ellis said. “We’re all kind of just having fun and playing and when that happens you start to win games.”
Fisher, who recorded a hat trick in the first quarter for the second straight game, now has 10 goals in the last three games.
Winnacunnet jumped out to a 6-1 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
“We took care of business in the first half and came out with a lot of energy,” Snow said. “Playing with the lead, especially a few-goal lead is awesome; we’ve been trying to come out quick the last couple of games, it’s been part of the game-plan.”
Winnacunnet is one of five remaining undefeated teams in Division II that has played at least five games.
“It’s just kind of working everyday in practice,” Ellis said. “Our coaches do a great job of scouting and us as players we watch a lot of film. If we can come into games prepared I think that definitely shows; just keep our foot on the gas and keep working every day to get better.”
This was the third straight loss for St. Thomas Aquinas, who are now 2-4 on the season.
“We have to get better,” St. Thomas head coach Sean Houlahan said. “I’m guessing (Winnacunnet) won all the ground balls, and if you can’t possess the ball you can’t really do much. We made a lot of mistakes but they’re good, they’re big boys, they got a lot of athletes on that team.”
St. Thomas only returns two seniors to their lineup this year, while the majority of the roster consists of underclassmen who have not played at the varsity level before this season.
“That’s the thing,” Houlahan said. “We’re going to take today and we’re just going to get better tomorrow. We’re going to come out and try to fix some things that we did wrong today, primarily ground balls.”
Johnny Resch, Miles Doucet and Finn Connor all scored a goal for St. Thomas.
Winnacunnet and St. Thomas will play against each other on Thursday in Hampton. The Warriors will then travel to Division I Pinkerton Academy on Saturday for a 5 p.m. game.
“(The win streak) is great but we’re always worried about that next one,” Ellis said. “So we’re on to St. Thomas again on Thursday.”
