By Hastings Lacrosse

The Raiders scored 15 for a win in Minneapolis. The Raiders played the Raiders at the Minnehaha Academy campus and came out with a good win.

Freshman Luke Chorlton had a big game scoring seven goals and three assists. His brother John added three goals and three assists from his long stick middie position and Alex Thompson scored three goals. Rounding out the scoring was Ethan Hagen with a goal and two assists and Pip Schaffer with a goal.

The Raiders went into the games needing to win. Chorlton’s big game did help secure a victory in Minneapolis.

The Raiders then went on to drop a couple of close games against Bloomington Jefferson and CDH by one goal apiece.

Against both teams it came down to the last few seconds of the games with Hastings having a few seconds at the end with an opportunity to send it into overtime. In the Bloomington it was John Chorlton carrying the load with an eightpoint outing from his LSM position, with four goals and four assists to lead the team. His brother Luke added three goals and an assist, Pip Schaffer added a goal and an assist and Alex Thompson and Ayden Larimer both rounded out the teams’ points. The Hastings defense played well enough that the Raiders has a chance at the end they just were a few ticks of the clock short.

The Cretin-Dedham Hall game was a little like the Bloomington game where the defense played well enough that the Raiders lost by 1 with an opportunity to tie it at the end. Brady Nickel was call on to shut down Cretin-Dedham Hall attack man Luke McCarthy, and John was call upon to play Gabe Rasmussen their leading points scorers. Both did a great job as the pair only getting a goal apiece. John Chorlton also was a leader on the offensive end of the field with two goals and two assists, Luke Chorlton had four goals and an assist. Alex Thompson and Kody Niederkorn both added a goal apiece while Schaffer and Hagen added assists.

The game was back a fourth game with the teams trading goals.

Jackson Sweeny had another good game with 19 saves. Jackson is having a nice season even though the win loss record does not show it. Getting one of those two wins should have made a big difference in the section seating selections. So, if they come out and play their game against Northfield they should still be in the running for a good seed in sections. The state lacrosse field has a lot of parity this year. It seems any team can be beaten by any other. As can be seen not only in the conference but also the section and throughout the entire state. If this team can get on a role and play the way we have seen over the years they can, they should go deep into the state tournament.

Thompson and Chorlton top state leaderboard It seemed like Alex Thompson and Luke Chorlton were playing a game against one another versus Northfield.

It was a very important game for the Raiders going into the section seating meeting, hoping for a home section game. Thompson had five goals and four assists, while Luke Chorlton had five goals and two assists.

The home team Raiders won the opening faceoff and it never felt like there was any doubt who was going to come out on top.

The first goal was Alex Thompson from Luke Chorlton, and the second was Luke from Alex. And when Pip Schaffer gets going you know the Raiders are firing on all cylinders. Schaffer got the next two goals. The first on his own and the second after Ayden Larimer won it to himself then went to Big Ben Zaccardi who fed Pip for his second of the quarter. Ben Zaccardi has found his way into the lineup with good stick skills and the ability to set a great off ball pick. Ayden Larimer has also been very good after coming back from a early season should injury to really make a difference at the face off X. With Ayden’s return they have been able to play Ethan Hagen and John Chorlton at their regular positions. With Ethan and John playing their positions it has also improved the full field defense (the ride) which allows Alex and Luke to use their athletic ability for more than just scoring.

Kale Hendershid and the Clemens brothers also have been playing very well for the Raiders. As it was earlier this season, it was another team effort that allowed the Hastings Raiders to dominate the Northfield Raiders the way they did.

Hastings not only showed an ability to score fast but there was a play with John Chorlton and Ethan Hagen late in the first or early in the second that showed the lacrosse IQ of this team. There was a ball that Ethan could not get to coming off the bench that went back over the midline for what would have been an over and back. But Ethan stepped off the field and had John step on the field in the defensive zone, John then allowed a Northfield player to pick it up, long enough for him to take it away from him and regain the ball.

The Raiders defense held Northfield to four goals until they started rotating the defense out. Garrett Putnam, Ben McKinney, and Jackson Schiller will be missed as senior poles next year for the Raiders. They have all played very well over the last few games and have really made a difference. Brady Nickel another freshman that is becoming a leader on this team and played a couple of positions has also proven to be a shutdown defender with a pole as well as a player that can leg the ball up the field for a clear had another good game also.

Colin Duerkop had another goal at the crease with a couple of men hanging on him.

John Chorlton had a dominant defensive game with 11 forced turnovers and at least another six ground balls to control the middle part of the field for the Raiders from his LSM position.

This may have been the signature win that the Raiders need to get an important home game to start the section playoffs. The next game is the scheduled for Thursday, June 3rd, 7:00 p.m. It is the Section 3 Quarter Finals against Hill-Murray at Eagan.

The Raiders Luke Chorlton put up a season-high seven goals in the 14-4 Hastings win over TrIMAC on May 18. His three assists on the day gave him a total of 10 points. Photo by Sarah Wasvick