L’Anse Creuse North lacrosse ends regular season with narrow win over St. Clair Shores Unified – Macomb Daily

L’Anse Creuse North’s Adam Dionne charges an SCS Unified defender. (GEORGE SPITERI – for MediaNews group)

Adam Dionne was determined to make his senior season with the L’Anse Creuse North lacrosse team his best ever.

He accomplished his goal and finished the regular season with flying colors, scoring a career-best four goals on Senior Night to help the Crusaders to a come-from-behind 13-10 victory against St. Clair Shores Unified on Thursday in a Macomb Area Conference White Division game.

Junior George Decock also scored four times for LCN, which improved to 3-2 in the MAC White. Decock’s final goal put LCN ahead 11-10 with 7:48 to play.

“It’s a night and day difference with Adam from last year to this year,” coach Steve Hunter said. “He has taken on a leadership role. He can compete with the best in Macomb County. We will certainly miss him when he is gone. He is one of our best defensive middies, but he can score and play attacking. He is a real all-rounder.”

Dionne has done the work needed to improve.

“My lacrosse IQ has increased,” he said. “I’ve gotten better with my hands, better at passing, better at shooting, better at ground balls. Everything. Just the basics.

“I said, ‘It’s my last year, why not have my best year ever?’ I worked hard during the offseason and it got me here.”

Dionne scored LCN’s final two goals of a four-goal fourth quarter. Shores had taken a 7-6 lead at halftime after goals from Matt Charette and JJ Tackett in the final 4:48 of the first half. The Crusaders scored the first three goals of the third quarter, but SCS fought back on goals from Michael Livi and Charette to make it 9-9 in the final twelve minutes.

“We are definitely a second-half team,” Dionne said. “I think we have better endurance than most teams. In the second half we just became more of a team.”

Hunter was impressed with the battle St. Clair Shores put up against his team.

“They have improved dramatically,” he said. “They brought it to us. They have a good defense and their goalkeeper (Zander Smith) has been hit on his head a few times. We’re kind of a second-half team. It is sometimes difficult to catch up, but we did that tonight.”

Shores coach Ken Brubaker said his team’s inexperience may have caught up with them in the fourth quarter, but he was still pleased with the overall performance.

“We lost to them by double digits last year,” he said. “Our goal this year was to improve. A lot of these guys didn’t play youth ball. They just came in as freshmen, maybe as sophomores. I’m proud of how these guys fight. They panic a little when they have the game under control. They keep pushing too hard. That’s just inexperience. I was really proud of our boys. Steve’s group is a little more talented and a little more experienced and ultimately we couldn’t close the door on them.”

Brubaker hopes his players follow Dionne’s example and continue to work during the offseason.

“These kids need to learn that all you have to do is work hard,” he said. “In today’s society everyone thinks that you get better at training and competitions. You do a little, but the hard work off the field pays off. You see the improvement in the kids who work hard off the field. The other guys are new and want to get better.”

LCN had to overcome some injuries during the season.

“Our starting goalie went down earlier this year and one of our defensemen (Liam Motter) stepped up and he has been playing goalie ever since,” Hunter said. “He’s a junior and he said he wants to play goalkeeper for us next year.”

Other scorers for the Crusaders were Ayden Davey, Antonio Zuckero, Gino Molnar, Logan Ridderikhoff and Wyatt Bush.

Charette finished with four goals for St. Clair Shores, Max Mowery scored three and Livi had two.

Shores finished 2-3 in the MAC White.