The Cowboys Varsity Lacrosse team travelled to Houston this weekend for a pair of games against Houston-area D1 teams, and there was not much in common between the two games.
On Saturday, Coppell took on one of the top programs in the state in The Woodlands, who brought with them an undefeated record and are coming off quarterfinal and semifinal appearances in the past two State Championship tournaments.
The Highlanders came out firing shots from every angle, putting Coppell on their heels, and the Cowboys never got comfortable in the game. Defenseman Grant Murphy (committed to play at Syracuse) opened the scoring for The Woodlands and Junior Ramsey McCreary (committed to play at Loyola) added three more goals in the game. Seniors Nicholas Rauchle and Brandon Baty also had multiples goals each for The Woodlands, leading them to a 13-3 win in which Coppell never really challenged.
The Cowboy offense consisted of two goals from Junior Reese Walker and one goal and one assist from Senior Ben Goyne.
The Cowboys regrouped and looked like a different team on Sunday as they took on Kingwood. Despite an aggressive, pressing defense from Kingwood, Coppell attacked and posted first quarter goals from Seniors Spencer Haddock (2 goals, 2 assists in game), Ripken Reynolds, and Ben Goyne (1 goal, 3 assists in game), and Junior Zach Bartolacci (3 goals, 1 assist in game), resulting in a 4-1 lead after the first quarter, and they never looked back. Junior Reese Walker had another big scoring day with 4 goals and 2 assists in the game. Coppell had eight different players score goals and had nine total assists on their way to a comfortable 14-5 win.
The defensive unit rebounded in a big way on Sunday with a great team effort that featured 19 ground balls won and 10 forced turnovers, both season highs for the unit. Senior Ryan Gordon was a dominant force, grabbing 6 groundballs, forcing 6 turnovers, and tallying an assist. Senior Adam Coberly and Junior Harper DeLoach also played well, each with 3 groundballs and 2 forced turnovers. Freshman goalie Hayden MacArthur had a big game with 9 saves and only 2 goals allowed (82% save percentage) to go along with 3 ground balls won. The face-off unit for Coppell of Ripken and Reece Reynolds had another strong day, led by Sophomore Reece winning 7 of his 9 face-offs.
The Cowboys will bring their 3-1 record back to Coppell to face Houston Kincaid on Friday, March 3, at 7 PM at Lesley Field. As part of their continuing VIP program to highlight the great things going on with Coppell High School students, the Lacrosse program will be recognizing the CHS Cheerleading teams and Coppell Hockey teams at halftime. All members of these programs will get free admission to the game and are encouraged to wear spirit wear identifying their programs.