The Valley Central boys’ lacrosse team built a lead and, while it was never seriously threatened, the Red Hook Raiders kept trying to chip away at it in what became a 19-13 Vikings win on Thursday afternoon at Valley Central High School.

“It’s kind of the way we’ve been all year,” Valley Central coach Tom Stoddard said. “We’ve got a good offense. We can score, but defensively we struggle.”

The Vikings opened an 11-2 lead with about three minutes to go in the second quarter when the Raiders went on a run. John Macri started it, and then another by Gabe Gravino pulled the Raiders to within seven goals.

However, Connor Stafford, who led the Vikings with five goals and two assists, scored two straight goals to restore the Vikings’ 9-point lead.

“We were passing the ball off well,” Stafford said. “We were seeing their slides and passing through the movement.”

However, the Raiders continued the Vikings’ long three minutes when Gravino scored two more goals to pull the Raiders to within seven points, before Danny Latimer’s goal with 5 seconds left in the second quarter sent the Vikings into halftime with a 14-6 lead.

“He’s got kids who can play,” Stoddard said. “I tried to sub some guys in here and there to give them a chance to show what they can do.”

The teams traded goals in the third quarter, but the Raiders pulled to within seven points on a goal by Gravino, just 21 seconds into the fourth quarter, but goals by Bryson Antal and Jack Sherry restored the eight-point lead.

“We’re really good at ball movement and we’re really good at push and transition,” Stoddard said. “Our motto all year has been ‘create chaos,’ and we’ve been very good at creating chaos on the offensive end. We’re trying to get better at doing that on the defensive end a little bit.”

The Vikings were doing everything they could to stop the Raiders’ momentum.

“We tried to ride better,” Stafford said. “We tried to stop giving up as many clears as they got, so we tried to help with that.”

Two late goals by Red Hook pulled the Raiders to within six goals, but they were unable to get any closer.

In addition to Stafford, Dylan Butcher had four goals and one assist, Sherry had three goals and one assist. Kai Hew had two goals and one assist, and Antal had three goals and one assist. Latimer had two goals and two assists.

Landon Santangelo made nine saves.

“He’s great,” Stoddard said. “He’s a great leader. He communicates to the defense well. He lets them know what they’re doing well. He lets them know when they’re not doing well, which is what, if you’re a goalie eating a shot, it’s what I would do.”

So far, the Vikings have won their first four games of the season.

“That’s pretty good,” Stafford said. “I feel like we’re performing well on offense and defense.”