Zach Brown fuels C. Milton Wright boys lacrosse’s 13-10 senior night win over Patterson Mill

Patterson Mill strikes and Zach Brown answers.

The senior attacker finished with five goals, spearheading a fruitful C. Milton Wright offense in a 13-10 win on senior night. Each inkling of Brown’s onslaught seemingly responded to each whiff of Huskies momentum.

Brown had the first Mustangs point. When Patterson Mill (7-3) ripped two straight goals in 16 seconds, there was Brown for his second. His third ballooned C. Milton Wright’s lead to four in the second quarter. A fourth goal came in the third when, again, Patterson Mill made quick work closing the second quarter with a goal then opening the third with another. Again, there was Brown, pinging one into the cage. Of course, the Huskies answered and Brown followed only minutes later.

“He comes out and works hard every day,” Mustangs coach Andy LeBrun said. “He’s very quiet. So to see these big moments flash and for him to take advantage of them and execute in those moments was huge. The momentum was starting to go their way and then Zach Brown came out of nowhere, scoring a goal or getting an assist.”

Perhaps his most crucial contribution to the win came late. Again, a responsive strike but this time with a pair of assists.

The first came just past the midway point of the third quarter. Brown caught the ball at point-blank range in front of the goalie. Patterson Mill’s defense collapsed and he flipped it to his left for a Kyle Ashman goal. Brown’s second of two assists in the win was part of a slower attack. The late going turned into a track meet to chew the clock. When Brown finally bit into his move, it was a pass through the interior, finished off by junior midfielder Gavin Morris.

That one was the backend of a three-goal run from Patterson Mill in the fourth. The Huskies cut a six-goal deficit in half, down 12-6 with 13.2 ticks remaining in the third to 12-9 near the eight-minute mark of the fourth.

Senior Justin Eckman is often C. Milton Wright’s calming offensive presence. Or, the one that fires up his teammates with a string of goals as their leading scorer. But Tuesday night was Brown’s night to clutch the wheel and steer his team across the finish line.

“It was a great battle,” LeBrun said. “They got the best of us last year so we came out with a lot of intensity. My guys were able to execute.”

C. Milton Wright’s offense road a bit of a roller coaster. They found goals in bunches then endured quiet stretches. LeBrun said their isolation and dodgy offense put points on the board. Patterson Mill’s halftime adjustments threw them for a whirl.

The Mustangs offensive output might have doubled if not for the often impenetrable play of Patterson Mill goalie Sean Cantalano’s 14 saves. Cuts across his face or wind-up strikes, the junior repeatedly left the home crowd groaning.

Regardless, the collective effort of a complete comeback fell short.

“We can’t turn the ball over and we can’t run up and down the field with no subs and expect to win,” Patterson Mill coach Ryan Arist said postgame. “We’re hurting ourselves. These big games, like C. Milton and Fallston, we gotta do better.”

Arist was most frustrated by the slew of turnovers, a statistic the bookkeeper doesn’t track.

With the spring regular season in its final week, both coaches are rightfully letting their minds creep into what a playoff run might look like. There’s less time to make adjustments this close to the first win-or-go-home game.

Where does Arist see the biggest need for improvement?

“If we’re gonna make any type of push, we’re gonna have to get better,” Arist said. “It’s just turnovers. We can’t throw the ball away, we can’t miss slides and we can’t miss defensive responsibilities.”

To the same inquiry, LeBrun highlighted the five-game Mustangs win streak to close the regular season. He felt they started shaky –– as expected –– but the team cohesion clicked midway through the season.

“It comes down to them really understanding what we’re trying to do here,” LeBrun said. “We’ve been rolling and it’s the perfect time for that to happen.”

C. Milton Wright — 4 3 5 1 — 13
Patterson Mill — 1 3 2 4 — 10
CMW: Brown (5) G. Morris (3), Eckman (2), Bender, T. Morris, Ashman. PM: Wilhelm (4), Gebhard (3), Pape, Reynolds, Wlodarczyk.