It was an entire team affair on Tuesday night as boys varsity lacrosse rebounded from Saturday’s loss with a dominating 21-0 win over Hudsonville, using ten different goalscorers to reach that mark. The usual leading goalscorers in senior Collin Ward, junior John Tomsheck, and sophomore Rowan Clay showed up once again with at least a hat trick apiece, but the entire roster played a big piece in this win.

Following the loss on Saturday, the Rangers had a grueling practice on Monday in what head coach Andy Shira described as “probably the toughest all year.” The coaching staff is looking to push the boys all week ahead of a really tough test with Brother Rice on Saturday, and they certainly got better on both Monday and Tuesday. 

Moving on from Hartland—who is now ranked second in the state—to Hudsonville, the two teams clearly bring a different level of talent to the table. Going from a really tough, draining loss to a game against a lesser opponent can often go one of two ways: either respond strongly and end the game early or let them hang around and squeak out a win or even lose. 

“Knowing the talent level from Saturday to last night was going to be different, it was going to be a mental piece the guys had to be prepared for, but they did really well though,” Shira said. 

It was clear from the very beginning which of the two options FHC was going to choose as the Rangers opened the game up with seven goals in the first quarter. From there, the Rangers coasted home. Collin Ward set his new varsity career scoring high with four goals and two assists, while Rowan added five goals and two assists on the night. John Tomsheck stayed consistent with another impressive stat-line, scoring three goals and assisting on four. John has led the scoring in many of FHC’s games so far this season, but his ability to find the open teammate and rack up assist after assist has been even more impressive. 

These three did their job, but plenty more Rangers got in on the scoring. Senior Keegan McConnell recorded the first goal of his varsity career on Tuesday, and junior Jack McNamara got a deserved goal of his own after a lot of threatening chances against Hartland on Saturday that just seemed to bounce the wrong way. Junior Miles Duiven had two goals himself, and sophomore Magnus Salmon added a goal and an assist. Seniors Reid Davison and Luke Matelic as well as junior Nathan Sarjeant impressed offensively too, with Reid getting a goal, Luke scoring twice and adding an assist, and Nathan scoring once and assisting one too. 

Defensively, in any game that a team gives up zero goals, it was a sound and complete defensive performance. Despite some timing still needing to be worked on, a shutout is an impressive result regardless of the opponent. Creating turnovers in their own half, sophomore Sam Sneider and junior John Foster wreaked havoc on the Hudsonville attack, resulting in an assist apiece as the two of them did an excellent job of pushing transition. The Rangers were able to get everyone in the game last night, which is especially hard with such a big roster and three goalies. Sophomore Crandall Quinn did his usual thing to open the game up, and junior Charley Mehney came in and kept it going for a couple of quarters. Fellow junior Mac Boike was able to enter the game as well in the fourth quarter, and he made a key save late in the game to preserve the shutout. 

Finishing the game with a 21-0 victory, the Rangers are now 4-2 on the season. They take on another local opponent in Caledonia on Wednesday night at Cal’s Scotland Yard at 7:15. Ahead of one of the toughest matchups of the season against Brother Rice on Saturday, FHC will look to come out of this contest injury-free and with another comfortable win.