Michael Steingold

With an onslaught of offense that put six Saints on the scoreboard, the Nansemond-Suffolk lacrosse squad rolled over Norfolk Collegiate at home Friday night to a final score of 20-7.

&uot;We rebounded well from the loss [Tuesday] to Norfolk Academy,&uot; said NSA head coach Trent Blythe. &uot;But we’re not where we want to be yet – more efficient on offense. We need to put all the pieces together.&uot;

By nearly every metric, the pieces fell in place for the Saints in their match against Norfolk Collegiate, right from the on-set.

Tyler Van Selow scored the game’s opening goal three minutes into the match. The Oaks quickly answered, tying the score on a pass play in front of the net. Without missing a beat, the Saints came roaring back, with Kyle Jett and T. Van Selow each scoring to go up 3-1.

Norfolk Collegiate went on the man-advantage soon after and capitalized, pulling within a goal at 3-2, which proved to be the only successful man-advantage for the Oaks, as they went 1-for-4 on the evening.

Ending the first quarter, Jett wound up his crank shot and let it fly, finding the back of the net with 11 seconds remaining in the period to give the Saints a 7-3 advantage heading into the second.

Jett was at it again when the whistle blew to start the second quarter, passing on the offensive perimeter and quickly finding an open Brock Van Selow who beat the NC goalie on a 10 yard shot, putting the Saints up 8-3 just 30 seconds into the period.

After Jett scored again 20 seconds later, NSA got its first man-advantage of the night, of which they took advantage as Bennett Bynum laid a pass perfectly into Jett’s stick pocket, setting up a goal that gave the Saints a 10-3 advantage. The Saints had one more man-advantage in the period, which they could not convert, leading to a 1-for-2 man-advantage conversion record for the night.

Toward the end of the half, NC had a two-man advantage for 40 seconds, but defender Ryan Beale was an impenetrable force, allowing NSA to successfully kill both penalties. With time running down, the Saints put up another tally, from freshman Carter Pearson, with one second to play to take an 11-4 lead going into halftime.

After the break, NSA switched out starting goalie Matt Holloman for colleague John Lotz.

NC got their offense moving to open the second half, scoring 15 seconds in.

T. Van Selow answered right back for the Saints, wrapping around from behind the net for an unassisted goal. For the end of the third quarter, the Saints went on a 6-1 scoring drive, including two unassisted in a row from Jett, putting NSA up 18-6 going into the final period.

Offensively for the Saints, T. Van Selow scored on eight of his nine shots and had one assist; Jett had eight goals on 11 shots.

Senior co-captain Bobby Flintoff had one goal and seven assists.

Daniel Parrish, B. Van Selow and Pearson had one goal apiece for the Saints.

The two Van Selows combined to win 18 out of 27 face-offs for the Saints.

NSA (9-1, 4-1) is gearing up for its next match against Bishop Sullivan Catholic School on Tuesday; if the Saints finish the regular season with that win, it will be the best regular season in NSA lacrosse history.

In a Senior Day doubleheader Tuesday, the Lady Saints’ lacrosse team plays Catholic at 4 p.m. and the boys’ match follows at 5:30.