Jerdonek leads lacrosse team to 16-8 victory over Highland

Perhaps the best summary of Avon’s 16-8 lacrosse domination of visiting Highland Tuesday came from Fin Jerdonek.

“There were plenty of goals and plenty of assists,” he said. “It was a good night.”

Thanks in no small part to Jerdonek, who led all players with a career-high six goals and also had two assists as the Eagles won their second game in as many attempts. Three of Jerdonek’s goals came in the fourth quarter, helping his team hold off any thoughts that the Hornets had of a comeback.

“That’s just Fin,” said coach Rod Wright. “He’s capable of that every day. He’s capable of being the best player on the field every day. That’s the challenge I have for him, to make sure he goes out and shows what he’s capable of every day.”

But the junior who also was one of the top receivers on Avon’s state championship football team didn’t do it alone. Jude Theibert had three goals and two assists, with all three goals coming in the first half. Evan Juergens added three goals and an assist, and Jackson Brokaw had one goal and three assists. Will Conley added two goals for the Eagles, Jace Barton had one goal, and Fisher Stone and Reese O’Reilly each had an assist.

“We played clean lacrosse,” Wright said. “We didn’t turn the ball over too much. We played team lacrosse. There were a lot of assists that happened. And we settled in on defense after the first quarter, and we communicated better after the first quarter. We kind of played our game of lacrosse. Most importantly, it was the team aspect of how we played. We played like a family. We shared the ball. We kept our heads up and looked for each other.”

The hosts never trailed, but the teams traded goals for the first few moments of the game, resulting in a 2-2 tie midway through the opening period, with Jerdonek and Theibert providing the goals. Avon then went on a 4-0 scoring burst to break open a lead that would only get bigger. First Theibert scored on an assist from Jerdonek, followed by an unassisted goal by Jerdonek. Conley then scored his two goals in just over a minute on assists from Theibert and Stone.

The first quarter ended with the Eagles on top, 6-3, and by halftime it was 8-4. Avon was even more dominant in the third quarter, which ended with the home team holding a 12-5 advantage. Through it all, Lucas Deacon was a force in goal, coming up with 13 saves.

The only area that the Eagles didn’t dominate was faceoffs, with Highland winning 10 of the 14. Sometimes that can be a crucial stat, but in this game it didn’t matter.

“We were just moving the ball, and we didn’t have that many turnovers,” Jerdonek said. “We shot well, close to fifty percent. We got a lot of shots on goal, and we were moving the ball around, spreading the ball.”

Next up for Avon is a home game with Olmsted Falls on Thursday.