Unified loses four-goal lead, responds with two to prevail

Two lakes area lacrosse teams met on Wednesday, March 30 as Waterford Unified came away with a 6-4 victory on the road over Walled Lake Western.

Waterford (2-0) had a 4-0 lead in the fourth quarter before the Warriors started a rally with 3 goals to cut the deficit to one, forcing Waterford Head Coach James Gilletly to call a timeout.

Waterford responded with two goals as it held on to win.

Sean Costello led Waterford with two goals while Matt Arvin, Mitch Kellogg, Jared Lee and Emmett Smith each scored. Ryan Brown also had 15 saves for Waterford.

“It’s good to get any conference wins,” Gilletly said.

“It builds up confidence going into spring break.”

Nick Gallmeier, Wes Raske, Vlad Kovalskly and Dalton Atwater each scored for Western (1-3).

Waterford began its season on Monday, March 28 with a 6-2 victory at home over Royal Oak.

Kellogg had a hat trick while Arvin had 2 goals and Jarritt Lee had a goal.

“The best thing is the defense is coming together and they’re starting to run our defense the way they’re supposed to,” Gilletly said.

Western began its season on Friday, March 25 with an 11-3 loss to Walled Lake Northern before falling to West Bloomfield, 14-7, on Monday, March 28.

Against West Bloomfield, Gallmeier and Raske each scored two goals while Raske also had two assists.

After the loss to Waterford, the Warriors picked up their first win in the program’s history with an 8-7 victory at home over Grosse Ile on Friday, April 1.

Atwater scored four goals for Western while Gallmeier had a hat trick and Raske had a goal and two assists.

The Warriors are off until Tuesday, April 12 when they host Belleville. Waterford will travel to face Stoney Creek on Monday, April 11.