Chelsea Kicks Off 2017 Lacrosse Season

Sophomore Sam Peterson Scores in the 3rd Quarter off a pass from Doug Zarinnia

The calendar says it’s Spring but Mother Nature wasn’t paying attention, as on a brisk evening at Jerry Niehaus Field, the Chelsea Bulldogs Lacrosse team kicked off its season by playing host to the Lansing Waverly Warriors.

The Class A Warriors got off to a fast start scoring several goals early on, but the young Bulldogs were not deterred and consistently kept fighting back. Down by several goals, the Bulldogs got their first goal of the game and the regular season as Sophomore Cam Breining took a feed from Senior Nate Bero and buried it in the back of the Warriors goal at the beginning of the second period.

The Warriors, who combine students for their team from Lansing Catholic Central and were Division 1 state runners-up last year, built on their lead and the Bulldogs wouldn’t score again until the third when Sophomore Sam Peterson cut in front of the Warriors goal and beat their netminder for his first goal of the season, and Chelsea’s second of the night. He was assisted on the play by another sophomore, Doug Zarinnia.

That would be the final goal of the night for Chelsea as the very young team fell to the Warriors, 15-2 and were outshot 22 to 4. The Bulldogs hit the road Wednesday for a 7 o’clock game at West Bloomfield High School.

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Chelsea Lacrosse Comes Back To Defeat Belleville

Senior Ethan French takes a shot on the Belleville goal

The sun had gone down and the wind had picked up on an unseasonably chilly April evening in Chelsea. The Belleville Tigers were in town to take on the Bulldogs and the Tigers wasted no time getting off to a good start with goals by Jacob Flood and Alec Emerson to give them an early 2-0 lead. But then Alec Daman made a great kick on the ball which Sean Cox picked up and passed it to Ryan Hein who quickly jammed it home to cut the lead in half. Only minutes later it was the freshman Cam Breining tying it up.

In the second quarter, Chelsea came out fast and started piling up the goals but right before the half the Tigers scored a couple quick goals to go into the half down 5-4. After a brief intermission, it was Ethan French getting the ball to Cam Breining who quickly extended the Bulldog lead. The Bulldogs and Tigers swapped goals and as the Bulldogs entered the 4th with a 2 goal lead, things got a bit interesting. Chelsea netminder Josh Ciaccio  was off for 2 minutes on an unreleasable penalty and Belleville quickly took advantage of the situation. They broke through the Chelsea defense and scored 4 quick goals  to take a 9-7 lead.

But the Bulldogs didn’t roll over as Senior Ryan Hein attacked the Tigers net and scored a beautiful goal with a hard shot. With 5 minutes left Cox again made a great pass to Breining who scored the tying goal. Then things got very physical as both teams were fighting on the field for possession of the ball to get that precious lead. And the toughness paid off as Senior Ethan French scored the go-ahead goal with little time left retaining the lead once again for the Bulldogs. With time running out the Tigers turned up the heat and started to pressure the Bulldogs goal but goalkeeper Ciaccio made save after great save to keep the Bulldogs on top. With 38.8 seconds left it was Hein scoring off a pass from Daman to help secure the Bulldogs lead and help them to a big 11-9 victory.

Hein had a huge night with 5 goals and 2 assist while  Breining had 4 goals for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs play host Friday evening to Temperance Bedford

Nick Whitesall with the shot on goal

Josh Ciaccio makes an excellent point blank save

Cam Breining with the shot

2016 Seniors

Cam Breining takes a shot

Blake Schoof

Fighting for the ball

 

Chelsea Lacrosse Conquers St. Mary’s

 

Senior Jack Miller slams it home for the Bulldogs

The rains of earlier in the day had left their mark on the Chelsea field but had given way to a crispness in the early evening as Chelsea Lacrosse played host to Monroe St. Mary’s Catholic Central.  It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to strike first as Senior Ethan French blasted the ball past the SMCC netminder. Sean Cox scored to put the Bulldogs up by 2 but SMCC’s Austin Berger cut the lead in half with a goal of his own. Jack Miller scored shortly thereafter to increase the Chelsea lead.

With SMCC down in the second 4-1, it was Berger again scoring on the man advantage. But after that the Chelsea defense said “no more”. They piled on two goals while Chelsea netminder Josh Ciaccio made several great saves to help take Chelsea into the half with a 6-2 lead.

After the break, the Bulldogs expanded the lead more taking advantage of many odd man situations. In the 4th, Chelsea took advantage of SMCC’s Berger being off for 3 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and increased their lead to 9-2. The unsportsmanlike was just one of many penalties for SMCC on the night as they played a very chippy, physical game.

At about the 10-minute mark in the 4th quarter  with the Bulldogs up 9-2  lightning flashed in the Western sky, which had grown dark as a predicted storm was ready to roll through. MHSAA rules call for a 30-minute delay from the time of each flash of lightning. Both teams left the field, the Bulldogs retreating to the safety of their locker room, SMCC to their bus. Chelsea had offered the use of the visitors locker room to SMCC but for some reason, they declined.

It wasn’t too long after the lightning strike that the heavens opened up and released a cold rain on an already chilly night sending spectators to seek shelter and wait out the storm. Shortly after 9 o’clock, with another flash of lightning, the game was called on account of weather and time making the Chelsea the 9-2 victor.

Ethan French, Ryan Hein, and Jack Miller each had two goals on the night while Cam Breining, Sean Cox, and Alec Daman each helped with solo goals of their own. Cox and Hein had 2 assist each while French had a helper also.

The Bulldogs travel to Ann Arbor Pioneer for a Monday night game with the varsity beginning at 7.

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Chelsea Lacrosse Sinks Dexter In Overtime

Senior Ryan Hein scores his first of 3 goals on the night in Dexter

On a beautiful warm evening, the warmest of the year so far, the Chelsea Lacrosse team, rolled into their rival Dexters field looking to shake off their loss against a tough, top-ranked Tecumseh team. Dexter’s only loss on the season thus far was to the same Tecumseh team and was not about to let their rivals take a victory in front of their home crowd.

Chelsea head coach Joe Koengeter had his team focused and ready though and it didn’t take long for Chelsea to strike first with Freshman Cam Breining scoring unassisted within the first minute of the game. Dexter answered right back though with a goal of their own right away. The teams swapped goals with neither taking a decisive lead. They entered halftime tied 5-5.

Dexter came out strong in the second half  scoring two quick goals to take the biggest lead of either team of the game, 7-5. But Chelsea never gave up as Senior Ryan Hein scored two goals towards the end of the 3rd period to tie the game up, giving him the hat trick on the night.

But Dexter dominated the 4th as they scored to take a one goal lead and their defense tightened up not giving Chelsea many opportunities at all. As they threatened to build on their lead and try to put Chelsea down for good Junior netminder Josh Ciaccio had other ideas though as he made save after spectacular save to give his team a fighting chance. Then with only 29 seconds left it was Breining burying the ball deep in the Dreadnaught net with a hard solo shot to tie the game up.Chelsea withstood a barrage of Dreadnaught attacks in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.

Dexter seemed poised for victory in overtime as they put several shots on Ciaccio but the young goalkeeper stood tall and was able to help get the ball upfield. When it looked like a tie was imminent it was Senior Ethan French blasting the ball into the back of the Dexter goal with only 7 seconds left giving the Bulldogs the sudden death victory!

The loss is Dexter’s second of the season. Both teams were even in penalties in a well-officiated game. Dexter was led by Randy Gessell with 3 goals and Nick Greca and MacGregor Wright with 2 goals apiece. Dexter will play its next game Wednesday at Saline.

Chelsea was led by Hein and Senior Jack Miller with 3 goals apiece  while Breining finished the night with 2. Chelsea travels to Ann Arbor Pioneer on Wednesday then back home at Jerry Niehaus Field on Thursday against Catholic Central.

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