Boys lacrosse: Erie beats DR; back into semis for 4th straight season
May 14—ERIE — After games, Erie coach Nick Mandia decompresses on a 45-minute drive to his home just north of Golden. Then, it's right to breaking down tape.
"The wife knows I'm not coming to bed when I get home," he smirked.
Fit into his couch, the only lacrosse coach for Erie since they got a program in 2019 spends the next two hours highlighting what went good and bad from the night's win or loss.
On Tuesday, though the meticulous Mandia will be able to find plenty to improve upon, there were plenty of positive takeaways from his top-seeded Tigers' 16-11 win over Dakota Ridge. Among those were Charlie O'Brien and his six goals, which helped lead Erie back to the Class 4A semifinals for a fourth straight season.
"I'll watch the game tonight when I get home. Can't get to sleep until I watch the game we just played in," Mandia said. "Then I'm going to move on. Tomorrow I'll wake up and I will already be working on scouting the next opponent."
Up next: No. 4 Battle Mountain on Saturday at the University of Denver. The Tigers will bring with them a soaring offense.
In the quarterfinals, O'Brien and the offense were nearly unstoppable.
Like a star point guard in basketball, O'Brien scored and created at will. His signature play is the best representation of it.
On an inbound, the University of Vermont commit starts with the ball from behind the opposing net, then attacks. Defenders trying to face him straight up are abandoned due to his elite footspeed. Whether he'll come around from the right or left of the net is a decision the goalie must make in a split second. He then shoots or dishes — both of which provided nice results against the Eagles (11-6).
"I like to initiate a lot on the offense," O'Brien said. "That's just starting the offense, whether it works out for my teammates or for me."
Cooper Riley added a career-high four goals and Liam Connors had three for the Tigers, who have averaged 17.1 goals in their eight straight wins since falling at home to Air Academy on April 4.
Their 222 goals this season leads 4A.
"After that Air Academy game, our mentality changed," O'Brien said. "We couldn't accept we lost to that team. And we worked extra hard and practice became more serious. We became more dialed-in."
Mandia called it a "culture reset."
"There was a lot of heart-to-heart stuff, a lot of locker room stuff," Mandia said. "The kids responded really well, which I'm really proud of. It's been an emotional roller coaster of a season. I think more than others. And looking back, I'm grateful for it. I think this group has been toughened by it."
Times for Saturday's 4A semifinals were not announced as of Tuesday night. The winners will play for the title at DU at 5 p.m. on Monday.
