BOW – After a tight, low-scoring first half, the Bow Falcons pulled away from visiting Bishop Brady in the final 24 minutes, winning 9-6 and extending their win streak to five to start the season.

Tied 2-2 at the half, the Falcons rode a 4-0 third quarter en route to the victory. Ben Berube (three goals), Brodie O’Neil (three goals), Will Bennett (goal, assist), Canyon Batchelder (goal, assist), Nate Davis (three assists) and Billy Smethurst led Bow. For a team that finished last season 2-13, the turnaround has been a welcomed sign for first-year head coach Devin Calkins.

Here are three notes from Friday’s matchup:

Despite the slow offensive start, Bow’s defense locked in from the opening draw

Through five games, the Falcons have allowed 10 goals just once, holding everyone else in the single digits. For a team that’s been a little less consistent scoring, the stability defensively has played a massive role in the unbeaten start to the year.

“We have really, really strong 1-on-1 defenders, and they love taking on challenges,” said Calkins. “I think our offense and our defense go at it in practice really, really hard, and they make each other better.”

It also helps Calkins that he has a number of more experienced players he can rely on to guide the way.

“We have a good number of seniors out here that are really leading us,” he said. “This is a group that's had tough times the past couple years, and they're super, super hungry coming into this season. Just keeping them organized is really the job for me.

“They're so good. They know what to do.”

Calkins’ halftime adjustment pays dividends on offense in the second half

After narrowly beating Plymouth 4-3 on Wednesday and scoring just two goals in the first half on Friday, the Falcons’ offense needed a boost.

Calkins tried changing up the structure of their offensive set.

“We couldn't really move the ball well, so I switched the set up a little bit to open the middle of the field up,” he said. “Guys were dodging really hard to score, which helped us out a lot.”

In the first half, Brady was quick to close up openings in the slot and made it difficult for Bow to make passes around the arc. That tweak opened up some more chances, especially for Berube, who scored a couple goals in that third quarter.

While the offense still has room to grow, it’s hard to have much to worry about after a 5-0 start.

“Right now, we're winning most of our faceoffs, we're holding teams to under 10 goals and we're scoring close to 15 goals a game,” Calkins said. “I want to keep us there. We have a 60-60-60 rule, so try to clear at 60%, save at 60%, hit the net 60% of the time. We just have to keep on keeping on those things, and we should be alright.”

The Giants didn’t have the stamina to keep up in the second half

Asked what changed after halftime, Brady head coach Frank Lamparelli had a simple answer: “legs.”

“We have a short roster. We have 21 guys,” he said.  “We just ran out of gas.”

Still, Lamparelli was justifiably pleased with his team’s performance, considering how well his defense played.

“They're playing as a team,” he said. “When I took over the program three years ago, we had a lot of individuality, a lot of non-lacrosse players playing lacrosse. These guys are playing lacrosse. They're playing as a team. They're fighting for each other. They're playing together, and they want to see success for each other, and I think that's the biggest difference.”

Brady goalie Brayden Murphy also did his best to keep the team in the game, but only scoring six goals was not enough for the Giants to pull off the road upset.

“My goalie played lights out today. My faceoff guy worked really hard,” Lamparelli said. “The defense was solid all day long. All day long. We just didn't put enough in the back of the net.”

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