On Thursday afternoon, the boys’ lacrosse team improved to 3-2 in PSAA play with an 11-10 victory over the Masters School that went down to the wire.

The Bears jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first quarter and held a 7-4 advantage at the half as their clean passing and off-ball movement caused continual headaches for the Panther defense. A low-scoring third period left the Brook ahead 8-5 heading into the final frame. In the fourth, the Panthers chipped away at the Bear lead, bringing their deficit down to one goal midway through the quarter, but the Bears kept finding answers that kept the visitors at bay.

The Brook held a two-goal lead with just over two minutes left and possession of the ball, but several costly turnovers allowed Masters to knot the game at 10-10 with just over one minute remaining. On the next possession, in one of the key moments of the game, Nick Jaferis drew two penalties that gave the Bears a two-man up advantage. Less than 10 seconds into the restart, Peter Simone rifled his fifth goal over the left shoulder of the keeper to give the Bears an 11-10 edge with 40.5 seconds left.

In desperate need of a possession, Masters won the ensuing face off, then drew a penalty to earn their own man-up opportunity with 30 seconds remaining. With the game on the line, the defense killed the penalty, unleashing a Blue & White mosh pit in the middle of the field, to the delight of the post-dinner crowd.

Simone led the way with 5 goals and 2 assists while Jaferis, Owen Sobel, and Luca Trama each added 2 goals and 2 assists. Ryan Eikenes and Ian Blunt each notched an assist and Bobby Reuter anchored the defense with 14 saves in net, including several sensational stops from point blank.

The Bears are back in action on Friday in a home match-up with Long Island Lutheran.

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