Bragg scores eight, Polar Bears open lacrosse season with win over Linsly

Mar. 25—FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Senior Polar Bears lacrosse team has been itching to get back out onto the field.

"We've got a very young team, extremely young, not a lot of experience. Most of our opponents have played three-to-five games," Fairmont Senior head coach Tony Stingo said. "We purposely scheduled late because we're so young, we needed the extra practice.

"To be honest, with three weeks of practice and no other opponents, my guys were chomping at the bit to see somebody else. They were sick of beating on each other."

The extra work paid off for Fairmont Senior in their season opener Saturday afternoon, as the youthful Polar Bears put it all together in a 13-5 win over Linsly.

The Polar Bears' Hunter Bragg exploded for eight goals in the win, leading the way for a Fairmont offense that had five different players record at least one goal.

Bragg, a senior, has been named an all-state honorable mention the last two years. With the departure of players like Dom Stingo and Josiah Smith on offense, Bragg will be tasked to step up this season in more ways than one.

"Hunter scored eight goals today, that's great for him, great for us, but I was more impressed with his ability to be a facilitator today," Stingo said. "Now he didn't rack up a bunch of assists, but he directed the offense, he was communicating with the other guys on offense, he got Rocco open a couple times on the backside.

"Whether he got the assist or not, a lot of our offense was a direct result of him, I was real proud of his performance today."

Bragg recorded an assist Saturday, while Landon Black and Rocco Episcopo each also finished with an assist. Junior Frank Pagliaro finished with two.

Pagliaro added a goal and 10 ground balls to his day, the 2022 honorable mention midfielder being another player who the Polar Bears are looking towards for steady play this season.

"We're looking for [Pagliaro] to take more of an offensive role this season than he did last season," Stingo said. "We lost some offensive weapons from last year, and he's more than equipped to fill that role. We play him a lot two-ways — he's going to have to be ready to go and play a lot of minutes."

Black scored two goals and Episcopo and Issac Wetzel each scored to add to Fairmont Senior's 13 goals.

For Linsly, Carter Remp scored two goals to lead the Cadets.

It was the sophomore Episcopo who started off the Polar Bear's scoring frenzy, firing through a straightaway shot that short hopped into the net 90 seconds into play. Episcopo made his mark as a freshman last season after injuries thrust him onto the field, and he has cemented his starting spot as an attacker in his second year.

Pagliaro followed Episcopo with a similar goal shot from straight on, and Bragg found Black diving through the middle for Fairmont Senior's third goal in the first quarter.

The Bears led 3-0 after one.

The benefits of three extra weeks of practice revealed themselves Saturday, with the Bears finding each other on offense off of cuts and dives, and peppering the net with 40 shots on goal.

The Bears registered 40 shots on goal to Linsly's 13.

The youth of the Polar Bears team will have to fill spots on defense too, with the loss of first team all-state defenseman Jace Dalton. Noah Clifton returns on the defensive side for his senior season after getting plenty of action last year. Clifton forced four turnovers Saturday, a team-high, and picked up five ground balls.

Sophomore Jackson Morgan forced two turnovers of his own, impressing early for the Polar Bears, being named a team captain despite his relative inexperience.

"He's a dog," Stingo said of Morgan.

With a couple new pieces along the backline, the Polar Bears do have security in senior goal keeper Joey Richmond, who picked off 11 saves Saturday.

"I thought they did a very good job, there's obviously some things we have to work on," Stingo said of his team's defense. "The slides were timely today, but they did it on instinct, without a lot of communication. They've got to talk more. But they're young also and they'll grow, I'm real stoked about what we got on the defensive side."

Bragg started the second quarter with a goal not even a minute into play, weaving his way through traffic before letting a shot fly low through the net. Episcopo found Bragg next to make it a 5-0 ballgame and give the senior a first-half hattrick.

Remp got the Cadets on the board with 4:42 to play in the second.

A diving Bragg handled a pass from Black and snuck through a score to put the Polar Bears up 6-1 at halftime.

Linsly and Fairmont Senior each scored two goals through the first 11:45 of the third quarter, with the Polar Bears' scores coming from Black and Bragg.

Linsly had put through a goal with 45 seconds remaining to bring the score to 8-3, but any momentum the Cadets could've brought into the final quarter was dashed when Bragg took a pass from Pagliaro and whistled a long-range shot passed the Linsly keeper with 12 seconds left to put the Polar Bears up 9-3 going into the fourth.

Bragg put up three more goals in the fourth quarter as Fairmont Senior cruised to the opening day win. Issac Wetzel also got onto the score sheet in the final quarter of play.

Going forward in the year, much of the offensive burden will rest on Bragg and Pagliaro. The younger players will have their learning curve, and the keys to the offense come with new lessons for the upperclassmen as well.

"I put a lot of pressure on them to direct the offense," Stingo said of Bragg and Pagliaro. "And there was a lot of work to do to get them to accept that role, because both of them can score, both of them want to push and go, go, go. They're getting to the balance where they're not leaving their teammates behind, but still being very productive."

Fairmont Senior plays Monday at 7 p.m. against Wheeling Park.

Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.