Fairmont Senior boys lacrosse dominates Preston on senior night

Apr. 25—FAIRMONT — Fairmont Senior's boys lacrosse team scored eight times in the first quarter and pitched a first-half shutout to celebrate senior night Wednesday.

The 18-2 win against winless Preston at East-West Stadium was the Polar Bears' second-to-last home game of the regular season.

"Tonight for us was about securing a victory and getting ready for tomorrow," Fairmont Senior Head Coach Tony Stingo said. "Tomorrow, we play the number one team in the state, and they're very good. They're very disciplined, and we've got to match that discipline and up our intensity. That was what tonight was about."

Stingo remained respectful of Preston. He said their foes only had four subs, and he has a lot of respect for Head Coach Jeff Dreisbach. According to Stingo, Dreisbach is one of the "grandfathers of lacrosse in West Virginia."

Before the game started, Fairmont Senior honored the eight seniors on the team: Che White, Isaac Wetzel, Brady Snyder, Maddox Sliger, Joey Richmond, Frank Pagliaro, Alex Pearl and Riley Green. Stingo called his seniors a tight group. Richmond called themselves and the team a family.

"We're not really a big program here in Marion County, but people show up to the games, they watch us, they watched us grow up since middle school, we all played together," Richmond said. "Even guys from other schools that join us, we bring them in like family, and it's just really fun to hear family and friends here on the sidelines, coaches, everybody just celebrate with you."

Richmond also praised Preston's players for their sportsmanship. He said that no matter the score, they keep playing hard and stay friendly during the game.

Even though Fairmont Senior dominated this match, Stingo thinks his team still has work to do as the postseason approaches. Mainly, Stingo wants the Polar Bears to improve their possession time.

"I'm a firm believer that if this team possesses the ball for 24 plus minutes, we can beat anybody," Stingo said. "Just possession time, picking our shots, making sure that we're looking for the good ones. Totally confident in our defense. We just need to be a little cleaner on the offensive end."

Fairmont Senior got three goals within a minute of the game beginning with junior Rocco Episcopo, then sophomore Anthony Corwin and finishing with Polario for an early 3-0 lead.

Junior Landon Black scored four minutes later for the Polar Bears' fourth goal, and junior Jackson Lintner followed just under two minutes later. Black scored again with 3:27 to go in the first quarter, and Green and Episcopo scored two within the final minute to make it 8-0 at the end of the first.

With the starters taken off the field to give younger players time to play, Fairmont Senior's scoring onslaught slowed in the second quarter. Freshman Chase Wharton scored his first career goal half a minute into the quarter, and junior Jonathan Cottingham scored a hat trick in the quarter.

At halftime, Fairmont Senor held a 12-0 lead over Preston.

Wetzel scored two back-to-back goals to open the second half, one after a minute and half in the third quarter and another two minutes later. Lintner got his second goal with 5:45 remaining to go up 15-0 and put on the running clock.

Freshman Aiden Herback scored with 4:15 to go in the third to go up by 16, and freshman Ben Barnes put one in the back of the net with 30 seconds to go, and Fairmont Senior entered the final quarter up 17-0.

Preston got two goals in the fourth to avoid the shutout. Junior Liam Root got both, one a minute into the quarter and the other with 6:20 remaining to make it 17-2.

Before the game finished, junior Dominic Fantasia scored his first career goal with 4:15 left.

Fairmont Senior turns its attention to University, the best boys lacrosse team in West Virginia. For Richmond, it's business as usual, even if the Polar Bears travel to the Hawks for this matchup.

"Just do what we got to do," Richmond said. "I don't really care who's on that field against us. In the end, it's just two teams playing against each other. People can play bad games, people can play good games. Just however you play, you got to seal the win somehow."

Fairmont Senior at University boys lacrosse starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548.