Even on foreign soil, the boys Red Knight lacrosse team managed to dominate their competition, the Cooper Hawks, on Tuesday’s home opener game, ultimately beating the overmatched Hawks 26 to 1.

The Red Knights started the game strong with 10 goals in the first quarter alone. Brett Patterson, a senior midfielder new to lacrosse this year, scored not only the first goal of his career, but the boys’ first goal of the season. “[The seniors] are our leaders, they step up and do what they need to do to bring it home,” said Horn.

With the Red Knights consistently scoring numerous goals in each quarter, the stand out athletes included Will Hoesley, who had a hat trick in his first varsity game, Simon Gondeck who managed to chip in two, and senior captain Bailey Dodds scored a team-high 7.

Going into the game, the team expected that Cooper would not be much of a competition. “Since we’re playing Cooper, it’s just kind of a warm-up game. It’s for us to get in the swing of games again because we are starting late; most teams have already had a few games,” said Horn.

Additionally, the Red Knights expected for their team camaraderie and skills to shine through, which they did. “We will overwhelm them with size, speed, talent, intensity, determination, but mostly heart,” said captain Bailey Dodds.

Hopkins high school is the temporary home for the Red Knights while BSM’s fields are under construction. Although they might not have the home-field advantage, the team feels it will not impact their game. “It has benefitted us playing on turf, really it’s just another field to play on,” said sophomore attacker Christian Horn.

Although the opening game may not have been the competition the boys hoped for, they have high expectations for the rest of the season. “We had been practicing hard all week, we new we were going to dominate, but the real test will be against Totino Grace on Thursday.” said Brett Patterson.