BRISTOL — The Bristol Eastern Lancers and Bristol Central Rams met for the first game of their biannual matchup on Monday night. Despite a competitive game, the Lancers ran away with the lead defeating Bristol Central 18-7.
The experience of Bristol Eastern and their defensive aggressiveness led the Lancers to force a number of turnovers on the young Bristol Central roster allowing them to climb to a mountainous lead.
Bristol Eastern coach Kayla Policarpio said overall it was a team win.
“Everyone I put out there they contributed in one way or the other. They communicated and they never let their head hang,” Policarpio said. “They were on fire the entire way through. I couldn’t be more proud.”
In a rivalry game in Bristol, the game is typically not one-sided like it was Monday. Policarpio said she didn't expect the scoreboard to be what it was, but she had faith in the skillset of her players.
“I think these rivalry games bring out something in everyone. It doesn't matter your level or what your skills are,” she said. “It’s the rivalry game so you want to play hard. I told them from the beginning, I trust your skills. I trust your abilities, but we have to play with a lot of heart and they did.”
The Lancers improved to 3-2 with their latest victory after starting the season off with back-to-back losses against Canton and Watertown. Policarpio said it took the Lancers a few games to figure things out.
She said with their own youth they had to “test the waters.”
“We really had to test the waters. We had a lot of new girls who have never played and some girls who had never played at this level so we were really testing the waters with the first game,” Policarpio said. “Once we found where we belonged, who goes where and who's good at what. It really came together and you can see by the score of the game it really is a total team effort every single time.”
The expectation for the Lancers going forward is to continue to play as a team, level-headed and simply play their game. Policarpio said she hopes the team takes the victory over Bristol Central throughout the season and focus on the little things of how they came away with that victory.
She said Bristol Central are young, but have a lot of potential and will have a good season.
“I always love playing them because like I said this rivalry game always brings out something in everyone,” she said. “I think they're a young team and they have all the potential in the world. They have some great players and great athletes. I only wish them the best.”
For Bristol Central on the other hand, their youth showed up in several areas. Bristol Central coach Kyle Phelan said the loss of 10 seniors and a goalie showed against the Lancers.
“They’re experienced and we’re inexperienced. They do a great job on offense with moving and keeping you busy on defense and then defensively they put a lot of pressure on you and turn you over which really brings out our inexperience,” Phelan said. “The effort was there for us. We fought to the end. We never gave up, which is what I want to see and we'll build on that. We’ll get better.. I think the next time we play them we'll be a couple more weeks ready.”
