Andrew Giermak

After four games, and four wins, in various spots around Virginia, the Nansemond-Suffolk boys lacrosse team finally made their home debut Friday evening, hosting Louisville, Kentucky’s St. Xavier High School.

Behind a three-goal, five-assist performance by Kyle Jett, the Saints fought off a game effort by the visiting Tigers, remaining undefeated (5-0, 2-0) with a 12-8 victory.

Jett got the Saints rolling just over three minutes into the match.

firing a hard one-hopper past the Tiger keeper and in at the 8:44 mark.

From practically the same spot on the field, the left wing about 12 yards from goal, Jett got his second goal only 42 seconds later as Adam Nash drove into the slot and then passed out to Jett for the shot.

St. Xavier got the next two goals, playing most of the first quarter just as aggressively and just as skillfully as the Saints.

NSA found their offense again to start the second, with Daniel Parrish and Ashton Lewis notching goals in the first four minutes of the period.

Lewis’s score came on a man-up chance for NSA, and as the Saints’ attack kept putting pressure on the Tigers, the Tigers were forced to take more penalties and NSA took advantage.

At the 4:25 mark of the half, Parrish scored, gathering a rebound off a saved Brock Van Selow shot and putting it away from close range.

Less than a minute later, and after a St. Xavier penalty, Lewis scored off an assist by Jett as the Saints’ man-up offense moved the ball quickly and efficiently.

At the 2:03 mark, Nash scored off another Jett pass on another man-up chance, making the score 7-3 at the half.

In the second period, NSA outshot the Tigers 16-3.

Not going away, the Tigers held NSA to one goal in the first eight minutes after the half and cut the NSA lead to 8-5.

Nearing the end of the third, NSA capitalized with the man advantage for a fifth time, with Jett scoring for his hat trick.

NSA took a five-goal lead into the fourth as Nash scored with 51 seconds left.

In the last 12 minutes, Lewis finished off his hat trick at the 8:36 mark and then Will Crenshaw got his first varsity goal with 4:30 to go, firing a hard shot from a narrow angle to the left of the Tiger cage.

Defensively, John Lotz made seven saves for the Saints; senior defenders Ryan Beale and Ben Trujillo also had good performances.

Of the road trips to start the season, head coach Trent Blythe said, “the boys have proven to themselves what they are capable of by playing on the road and playing tough competition.

“They have already had a lot of adversity and shown they can do a lot this year.”

Thursday NSA hosts TCIS rival, and the fifth-ranked team in VIS Division 1, Cape Henry at 4:30 p.m.