The goal was to make Hershey uncomfortable.
Trinity understood the level of competition ahead of Thursday’s Mid-Penn Keystone boys lacrosse matchup. The Trojans entered on a five-game winning streak and had padded their resume with victories over Cumberland Valley (13-10) and Central Dauphin (8-6). It wasn’t necessarily about shutting down the boys from Chocolatetown, but rather, finding ways to limit the damage.
The Shamrocks did that, and then some.
Fueled by Nico Chirieleison’s five goals and backstopped by Bodey Teter’s cagework (seven saves), the Trinity attack and defense got on the same wavelength to grab a 13-4 victory at COBO Field. The Shamrocks held the Trojans scoreless for a 28-minute period and forced more than 20 turnovers.
“We’ve been focused on this game all week,” Chirieleison said, “and our coaches have been hammering the fundamentals and the system. Parker (Will) came up big on the faceoffs, and Bodey had a monster game in goal. So we just trusted the system, and we made it happen.”
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Trinity (9-0, 6-0) put the pieces of the system together from the opening faceoff. Setting the tone was a priority, and the Shamrocks peppered the cage with three shots in the first three minutes of play.
Matt Kennedy made good on the fourth attempt, striking the top-left corner of the net at the eight-minute mark. Chirieleison poured in two more goals, and Peter Gaudion added one. Ryan Grace kept Hershey (5-3, 0-1) in the hunt with a pair of scores — both in the first quarter — before Trinity opened the offensive floodgates for a 7-2 halftime lead.
“They like each other this year, and they love playing together,” Trinity head coach Jerry Standford said. “I think now, it’s like everybody has the same goal — just kind of possess the ball, play hard together, and they’re doing it. And I think when the confidence gets up, I think we can be a decent team.”
The confidence blossomed a bit more each time a goal was posted or a ground ball was gathered. The Shamrocks didn’t ease off the gas in the second half, receiving three goals from Chirieleison and another pair each from Kennedy and Gaudion.
Peyton Crecelius and Mason Boyer also reached the scoring column. Trinity learned its lesson April 4 when Palmyra turned a 7-1 halftime deficit into a 9-7 decision.
“We went into this with our foot on the pedal,” Chirieleison said, “and we kept it going throughout the whole game. Every quarter was 0-0. We were never up.”
The defense also maintained its aggression. Fifty-one ground balls rolled into the ‘Rocks sticks and defenders swarmed the Hershey attack any time it crossed midfield.
Long-stick middles Ryan Smathers and Joseph Olivetti were the initiators of the intimidating approach, knocking and stripping balls from countless Trojan possessors. And with Teter as a safety blanket — he stonewalled four shots across Hershey’s 28-minute spell — the Trojans had no answer for the hosts.
“I think we’re better defensively than offensively, which is the exact opposite of last year,” Standford said. “The offense is coming along and getting better, but defense is kind of what we rest our head on. (The goaltending was) fantastic. I thought (Teter) did a great job. He bailed us out. They’ve got some really good shooters, and only giving up four goals was mostly because we probably should have given up about four more.”
Trinity’s last 9-0 start came in 2021 when the Shamrocks hoisted the District 3 Class 2A trophy. While the confidence is brimming and the shots are falling, Standford and crew feel like they’ve only accomplished a small part of the bigger picture.
“Our thought process right now is we ain’t won nothing yet,” Chirieleison said. “And so, we’re gonna keep going. We’re gonna keep winning. We’re gonna keep fighting. But at the end of the day, we’re 0-0 after every game.”
Christian Eby is a sports reporter for The Sentinel and cumberlink.com. You can contact him at ceby@cumberlink.com and follow him on Twitter at: @eby_sports