It took the Arrowhead boys lacrosse team over a decade to get the chance to host a game at hallowed Taraska Stadium, but the Warhawks barely wasted a moment to get their first victory in their new digs.
Arrowhead scored three goals in just over 2 minutes over visiting Marquette University High School (MUHS) and never looked back as the they beat the Hilltoppers, 14-9, in their first game in the school’s football stadium.
“This is big because it took us 12 years to get here,” said coach Erin Ennis, who also notched the 100th victory of his career. “Tonight was the perfect storm of being here for the first time and being against a quality opponent that made it a special event for us.”
Senior Tommy Miller christened Taraska Stadium for Arrowhead (1-0, 1-0 Classic 8 Conference) when he scored his first of three goals just 22 seconds into the game. Junior Jack Cieslak scored the first of his four goals 47 seconds later, and Miller added another goal with 9 minutes, 48 seconds left in the quarter to give the Warhawks a 3-0 lead.
“We’ve always wanted to play on this field since we always had to play on that uneven field,” Miller said. “When we got into the huddle, we were super hyped up and came out ecstatic and we were ready to fire. We got a goal in the first 22 seconds because we knew we had to get up early because MUHS is a good team.”
Connor Cope, Will Lauterbach and Connor Hanley each added a goal in the first quarter to give the Warhawks the insurmountable 6-0 lead.
“You can always wait until the end of the game and try and catch up, but if you come out and create some margin, then you’re controlling the game,” Ennis said.
MUHS (1-1, 0-1) would pull within three goals in the second quarter. The Hilltoppers managed to stop the Arrowhead attack to score three unanswered goals, the first two by senior Jon Langenfeld with senior William Stegeman bringing the score to 6-3. After Cieslak scored Arrowhead’s seventh goal with 3:33 left in the first half, MUHS cut the lead to three again on a goal by senior Jacob Klenz.
“We weren’t stepping out on the ball, so we let the ball carrier dictate a little more than we like to,” MUHS coach Rich Pruszynski said. “We like to dictate on defense and we didn’t do that.”
Lauterbach and Cope also finished with three goals apiece for Arrowhead. Langenfeld had five altogether for MUHS, and Stegeman added two.
Arrowhead travels to Wauwatosa East/West Friday, April 7, for a nonconference matchup against the Blazers. MUHS heads to Waunakee Saturday to take on the Warriors at Mitchell Park
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