Three players scored 11 of Conard’s 12 goals in a home win over Southington on Thursday.

By Marlon Pitter

Three Chieftains recorded hat tricks as the Conard boys lacrosse team earned a 12-5 victory over Southington (4-4) on Thursday afternoon at home in West Hartford.

Derek O’Connor and Luke Serdechny each scored four goals, while Grant O’Connor tallied three goals and Gabriel Suarez notched four assists in a strong offensive showing for Conard. Evan Johanns scored three goals of his own for the Blue Knights.

“I thought we were able to create pressure in the transition game riding them and creating our own offense by getting the ball on the ground and creating situations where we pressured them into making bad passes or throwing into double teams,” said Conard head coach Matthew Cersosimo. “I thought that was a positive. I thought Ramsey [Henderson] and our defense were a positive as well against some pretty good shooters that came quickly early in the game.”

Tied 3-3, Derek O’Connor recorded a hat trick over a seven-minute span in the second quarter, assisted by Suarez on all three goals. Serdechny closed the half with a goal at the 54-second mark – his second of the game – to put Conard ahead 7-3.

Serdechny continued his scoring with back-to-back goals in the last 13 seconds of the third quarter, giving the Chieftains a 9-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Conard and Southington traded tallies in the fourth quarter, but Grant O’Connor scored the last two goals of the game to complete his hat trick with 37.6 seconds to play.

While the Chieftains’ offense provided the spark at one end of the field, Conard netminder Ramsey Henderson posted a 32-minute stretch without allowing a goal starting late in the first quarter.

Serdechny opened the scoring at the 10:41 mark in the first quarter, but the Blue Knights responded exactly two minutes later, tying the game at 1-1.

As Conard found the net twice more in the opening frame, Southington matched each goal more quickly than the last. The Blue Knights scored 20 seconds after the Chieftains’ second goal and 14 seconds after their third.

From there, Henderson held his own in the crease, making 11 saves on 16 shots faced and not allowing a goal until the 4:20 mark in the fourth quarter.

“For me, the first couple saves were kinda crucial, and once the offense starts firing up, then you get pumped on the defense and the defense makes a stop,” Henderson said. “It’s just like a cycle, and you have momentum the whole way. I think that’s just what drove us to the win.”

The Chieftains improve to 5-3 with the win and will host Somers (7-1) on Monday afternoon at 4:15 p.m.

“It was good to get a win today,” said Cersosimo. “It’s good to create some momentum and build it, but we gotta go back to the drawing board tomorrow, have a real good practice tomorrow and Saturday, and play a really tough team on Monday.”

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