DALTON, Mass. -- Vinny Orlandi made 18 saves Thursday to backstop the Wahconah boys lacrosse team to a 5-4 win over Mount Anthony.

 

"Today was the battle of the defenses," Wahconah coach Zach Sondrini said. "We did a great job minimizing their best players. MAU is a great team. I'm very proud of my team. We have a special group of guys this year. They banded together to get a monumental win for our program today."

 

Dart Jaggi and Wyatt Schleicher each scored a pair of goals, and Connor Washburn had three assists in the win.

 

Connor Noyes scored the other goal, and Matt Mathers and Jeremy Girard each had an assist.

 

Wahconah led, 2-0, at half-time, and took a 4-1 lead into the fourth quarter before staving off a rally by the Patriots.

 

"Our defense is the backbone of our team, and we held MAU to zero goals in the first half," Sondrini said. "And behind our defense is an amazing senior captain Vinny Orlandi who did everything humanly possible to keep the ball out of the net.

 

"Mount Anthony has an amazing goalie as well who kept them in the game early when we had momentum. We lost momentum in the fourth quarter and lost composure after some untimely penalties but we were able to recover and had some big stops with under two minutes left as they rallied."

 

Wahconah (7-3) hosts Chicopee on Saturday.