Rochester rebounds to topple Lake Orion
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
LAKE ORION — Back-to-back losses can cause a team to do one of two things: Fall into a downward spiral or learn the valuable lessons of defeat and return to the playing surface refocused and rejuvenated.
Rochester had chosen the latter.
After falling to both Clarkston and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in the course of four days last week, the Falcons returned to the field Monday night and responded by topping host Lake Orion 14-9 in a key OAA White Division girls lacrosse match.
Hamel realizes that either Lake Orion or Rochester Stoney Creek must defeat Clarkston if the Falcons have a shot of repeating as league champs. The Falcons (5-3, 2-1) are currently in second place in the league behind Clarkston, which is 2-0 in conference matches.
“We’ll need for Lake Orion or Stoney Creek to (do us a favor),” said Rochester coach Dave Hamel, whose team finished 3-0-1 in league play last season to win its first league title.
“I’m thrilled with this result,” continued Hamel. “We played Notre Dame (Prep) Friday and we played very poorly in every part of the game; and we lost to Clarkston, a league game, a couple of days before that. We had a team meeting before (this) game and we just talked about playing together as a team. The girls had a chance to talk about making better choices offensively and not passing much.
“We played a lot better, tonight,” said Hamel. “This was one of our better performances we’ve had a in a long time. We were sharp with our fundamentals and defensively we played very well.”
Aly Roseneau made 16 saves for the Falcons, one shy of the single-game school record, for Rochester.
“Ally been great all season,” praised Hamel.”She’s been really solid in every game.”
Lake Orion slipped to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Dragons trailed throughout, falling behind 7-4 at the half and never fully recovered.
Rochester led by as many as six goals in the second half.
Maggie Ng led Rochester with six goals and two assists, and the attack has over 25 goals this season in eight games. Emily Skubic added three goals, Katie Krako had a goal and two assists, while Natalie Prisciandaro, Rachel Bellestri and Rachel Lohmeier had singles goals for the Falcons
“We just fell too far behind,” offered Lake Orion coach Bill Booth. “We didn’t come back. I thought we played better in the final 10 minutes. But to be honest, I am disappointed. I thought we’d be in that game. We tied them 7-7 last year.”
Tiffany Smrtnik stopped 11 shots in the loss for Lake Orion.
“We had a couple girls that were missing tonight out of town (on a school related event), and I think we were missing them,” added Booth. “We weren’t ourselves in this game.”
Nicole Blovet had three goals to pace the Dragons’ attack. Mallory DeMott and Ronnie Booth scored two goals each for Lake Orion.
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Category: Lake Orion, Prep Wraps, Rochester
