The Highland Huskies got off to a strong start, winning their first five games.
But the streak ended on a rainy Thursday, as they fell behind early in a 10-4 loss to the Pine Bush Bushmen in a non-league boys’ lacrosse game at Marlboro High School.

“I thought we did some good things,” Highland coach Tom Schlappich said. “We shot ourselves in the foot way too much. Against a better opponent like Pine Bush, you have to capitalize when you’re given opportunities, especially when you’re a man-up.”

The Huskies fell behind early, allowing three first-quarter goals.

Pine Bush’s Isaac Cruz scored the Bushmen’s first and third goals of the quarter, on either side of a score from Colin Carey.

The Huskies’ defense stepped up in the second quarter, keeping the Bushmen off the board, but were unable to capitalize.

“Defense kept us in it,” Schlappich said. “I thought (goalkeeper) Landon (Zehr, who made 13 saves) played remarkably well, considering the shots he was taking. We came in with a game plan and I thought we executed the game plan fairly well.”

The Huskies struck first blood in the third quarter as Eben Yager rifled a shot past Pine Bush goalkeeper Dominick Ciarelli to put the Huskies on the board.
Then, the Bushmen caught fire.

Cruz scored two more goals, and Colin Carey added his second of the day to give the Bushmen a 6-1 lead. Then immediately after, Christopher Sgourdas scored his first goal of the game. Anthony Godinez followed with 2:39 left in the quarter.

Highland’s Logan Davis scored the first of his two goals with 47.9 seconds left in the third and Gavin Carey responded about 10 seconds later, sending the game into the fourth quarter with the Huskies trailing, 9-2.

The Huskies had a two-man advantage for a short time in the third quarter after penalties against Sgourdas and Gavin Carey but were unable to do anything with it.

“When you’re giving opportunities, especially man up, we got the ball on offense and we made an ill-advised throw and threw the ball away way too much,” Schlappich said. “It just wasn’t smart offense.”

Godinez scored in the fourth and Highland’s Kamrin Doyle scored the final goal of the game with 17.8 seconds left in the game.

“I think our kids got a little tired in the third and fourth quarter,” Schlappich said. “They’re a good team.”

The Huskies were scheduled for five days off to recover from their first setback and were scheduled to host the Saugerties Sawyers on the road on Tuesday.

“After the last game, I told them, ‘Don’t get big heads,” Schlappich said. “We’re going to facing some very good teams down the stretch, and that’s exactly what it was.”