BOYS HIGH SCHOOL LACROSSE: Shaker withstands Ballston Spa’s late surge to win, 12-8 (2024)

COLONIE, N.Y. — The hit, animated Pixar movie, “Finding Nemo,” may be just a little bit before Shaker varsity boys lacrosse sophom*ore Michael Hennessey’s time, but he’s certainly familiar with some of the film’s famous dialogue and not just from watching it.

Like the seagulls from the docks of Sydney, Australia, “MIKE, MIKE, MIKE” exclaimed the Blue Bisons’ sideline on Tuesday afternoon – one time for each of the six goals the sophom*ore attack scored in the team’s 14-8, Suburban Council win over Ballston Spa at Afrim’s Sports Park.

The chant was no spur-of-the-moment thing, rather a staple call from the team’s sideline and even after hearing it so many times on Tuesday, Hennessey said it’ll never old.

“We were in Herkimer last year for our scrimmage against (Fayetteville-Manilus) and one of the guys on the sideline randomly found it and then it just catches on from there,” said Hennessey, postgame. “It’s been a thing since then.”

“That’s one crowd favorites as well,” Blue Bison head coach and Michael’s father Shawn Hennessey said of the sideline call.

The chants had to wait a little while however, as the Blue Bison trailed the Scotties, 3-1 through the first quarter of Tuesday’s game, even allowing a pair of goals allowed inside the first four minutes.

“We just told them that we were making mistakes that were hurting us. They weren’t really putting us in bad spots, but we weren’t addressing the ball, we were turning the ball over on the clear and I was like, ‘these are all things that we have control over. It’s not something that they put us in a bad spot. We just need to control our ‘control-ables’ and then we just need to get the ball and start doing the things that we were doing,” said the Shaker head coach on the message to his team at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Michael Hennessey happened.

The scoring barrage from the sophom*ore started at the 8:45 mark of the frame, when Hennessey found the back of the net for the first time, to bring his team down by one. Across the next six-plus minutes of the quarter, Michael Hennessey would score four more times, to take a 7-3 lead, still with two-minutes to play before intermission.

“Mainly, it was just my teammates. They set me up in good spots and they just let me do my thing and I saw them at times and occasions, but mainly, I just took advantage of the opportunity that the defense gave me,” Michael Hennessey said.

“We’ve been working very hard to try to increase everything that we’re doing, make opportunities for everybody and just really get everybody going. (Michael) has to hold the ball; he and Colin Devoe, they mirror each other very well and if they’re doing a good job between each other, everybody else is a little bit benefitted,” said Shawn Hennessey. “So, I think he just started seeing the net pretty well and I think he took advantage of some opportunities when he was playing fast. He was running fast with the ball and he got to good places with it.”

Shaker didn’t stop there, as fellow sophom*ore Tanner Donovan would tack on one more at the 1:46 mark to cap-off a 7-0 run in the second-quarter alone.

But it still didn’t stop.

Out of the break, Michael Hennessey would get goal no.6 just inside the nine-minute mark of the third quarter. Overall, from the start of the second quarter until the halfway-point of the second quarter, Shaker scored 11 unanswered goals. Sophom*ore defenseman Brayden McElroy would even get in on the action with the long-pole, scoring from the top-off the crease via one of Michael Hennessey’s four assists on the afternoon.

“It was amazing. The team was all hyped and everyone was excited, ready to go and get more and that’s what we need here,” Michael Hennessey said.

Ballston Spa did not go quietly into the seemingly Summer night, starting with the second goal of the game from sophom*ore Vinny Rossetti, at the 1:27 mark of the third quarter – the first since over four-minutes to play in the first.

To start the final frame, the Scotties would string together a valiant run themselves, of four unanswered goals to get back to within just four of the Blue Bison, at 12-8, with under four minutes to play.

“We called a timeout at the end of the third, beginning of fourth, and was just kind of like, ‘listen, you need to start chipping away. There’s no 10-goal games. Win from here on out,'” said Ballston Spa head coach Luke Snow, postgame. “They did that.”

“I knew that they were going to make a push at it. I mean, when you have urgency, you play a lot different. They had urgency and they took shots that they needed to take, but ultimately, at the end of the day, I think our offense, we had similar opportunities we had in the second quarter that we didn’t capitalize and we had some wide open looks, but they turned into turnovers and that results in more defense,” Shawn Hennessey said. “The more a team gets on you, the easier it is to score, so I credit them with disrupting the pace and being able to stick a couple really good shots.”

Shaker would hold off potential disaster, as goals from seniors Ryan Baccaro and Colin Devoe would re-extend the advantage back to 12-8 and the eventual, final margin of victory. The score from Devoe was one of three for the senior attack on the afternoon.

“With the attention that they gave me, that left other people wide open, so Colin was able to take advantage of his opportunities,” said Michael Hennessey. “He was able to just take advantage and use his playstyle that he likes.”

For the Scotties and Blue Bisons, now both at 3-3, respectively, the late dramatics offer some different lessons to each locker room.

“Just more work on our offense, settle when we need to, not push it when we’re up by a lot, maybe possess the ball a lot more and just overall keep on scoring,” Michael Hennessey said.

“It’s something we talked about the huddle at the end, but, putting four quarters together is what you want as a coach. We’ve gotten two quarters in a game against Saratoga, where we were lucky to get out of it in overtime (10-9). I thought we got three, really good quarters on Saturday gets a great Marcellus team, from Syracuse, where it was 6-6, at the end of three and they pulled away at the end and in this game, we were hoping that we had two, we had three, and we were hoping to get that (four quarters), but we kind of reverted back a little bit today and it’s disappointing,” Snow said.

“But, we’ll get there. it’s young season.”

Ballston Spa will return to the friendly confines for its’ next matchup – versus Bethlehem (4-3) on Thursday, at 4 p.m. Shaker will be on the road Thursday night, to take on Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (3-4) at 6 p.m.

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Shaker 14, Ballston Spa 8

BSPA;3;0;1;4;—;8

SHAK;1;7;4;2;— ;14

Scotties- Rossetti 2-0, McNulty 1-2, Syracuse 3-0, Staszak 1-0, Phillips 1-2.

Blue Bison- Hennessey 6-4, Devoe 3-0, Resnick 0-1, Chudzinski 1-0, Baccara 2-1, McElroy 1-0, Donovan 1-0.

Saves- Sikoryak, BSPA, 11. Vitas/Baccaro, SHAK, 15.

Faceoffs- SHAK, 13-9.

Ground Balls- BSPA, 24-21.