Eagles advance with win over Homestead

It took a little while for the Zionsville boys lacrosse team to get going on Saturday in their playoff opener against Homestead.

But once they did, they were able to advance with a comfortable 9-4 win over the Spartans.

“Once we got started and took the lid off, I was happy with how we played,” Zionsville head coach James Rundle said. “We were able to play from ahead which is where we have been comfortable this year. A win is a win at this time of the year.”

Neither team could get their offense going early.

After a scoreless first quarter, it remained scoreless deep into the second quarter. While he certainly would have preferred being ahead, Rundle said the message to the team was just to stick with it and staying within themselves.

“We just said we had to get back to playing like ourselves,” Rundle said. “We have a tendency to match the team we are playing. So finding our identity and getting into games the way we know we can has been a focus.”

Eventually those goals did come.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Von Weidner with 3:42 remaining in the half.

Will Sorg and Phillip Egler added goals before the half as well, giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead heading into the half.

“The big thing was just breaking the lid off – one goal starts it all,” Rundle said. “Searching for the first one can be harder than the second one. Once we got those three before the half, I knew our offense would wake up a little bit.”

Zionsville got goals from Egler, Sorg and Weidner in the second half, plus goals from Max Gee, Cooper Smitson and Davis Wagoner.

Carson Seiler and Egler had assists, with Griffin Howell making 10 saves in goal.

The Eagles are off until next Saturday when they face Cathedral.

“We definitely want to continue to figure out how our offense can put the ball in the back of the cage more,” Rundle said. “We have to fill some holes, we are going to be a little short-handed going into Cathedral, but we were able to beat them once this year, so we are hoping we can repeat that.”