Featured Clip – “Williams, Lobos step up vs. Tigers”

The Conifer freshman scores four goals in an 11-4 home win

Conifer – The Conifer Lobos boys lacrosse team defeated Summit, 11-4, on March 12 at Lobo Field thanks in part to Nick Williams. The 6-foot-1 freshman attacker/midfielder scored four goals on nine shots.

“I think he’s finally started to let go of his jitters,” said Conifer boys lacrosse head coach Clint Frost.

One might assume Frost is talking about Williams’ jitters about being a first-year player on the varsity team, which is part of it, but Williams’ jitters run deeper. For the past four years, the number 22 jersey he wears belonged to Drew Williams, Nick’s older brother, who graduated last year. Not only did Drew Williams leave the jersey and midfielder position open, but there’s also a legacy to follow.

“Coming in as a freshman with Drew just leaving, I have to fill big shoes,” Williams said.

But if the saying, “one game at a time” holds true, the Lobos’ win against Summit gives Conifer (2-1) even more reason to hope. The Lobos enter their season ranked 10th in CHSAA’s 4A poll, making it the first time they have entered a season as a ranked team.

Last year, Conifer made it to the 16-team state playoffs, but lost in the first round to Steamboat Springs 14-4. But this is a new season and a new team.

“I liked the way we kept the ball moving,” Frost said. “And I’m real happy with the way our defense stepped up and shut ‘em down in the second half.”

This year, the team’s goal is to continue working on playing cohesively with good on-field communication in hopes of making it back to the playoffs, Frost said.

“Conifer is a great team with great team unity,” said Summit head coach Michael Grinnell. “They have a good all-around program and they kept (senior) Jordan (Nelson), our goalie, on his toes — and at times, his head — trying to defend the net.”

Nelson made 23 saves.

Conifer senior goalie Will Dale had a relatively easier ride having to make only nine saves — the same number of shots Nelson had to defend in the fourth quarter alone — thus underscoring the power of Conifer’s defensive and offensive dynamic.

“This was the first game this season where our team really came out and played together,” said Frost.

Although Conifer is still working on improving its faceoff percentages, capturing ground balls was one of the team’s strengths.

“We had a lot of really good off-ball movement with a lot of short feeds and quick goals on the crease,” said Frost.

Summit dropped to 1-2 on the season.