The Green Level Men’s lacrosse team has had a great season so far, being in the hardest conference in North Carolina, and being ranked 3rd in that conference. The only two teams ahead of Green Level are the top two teams in the state, putting Green Level’s name out there.

On Friday, The Gators faced off against the #1 team in the state, The Middle Creek Mustangs on their turf. The last time The Gators faced off against The Mustangs it was a tough loss at home, so The Gators came into this one wanting vengeance. The beginning of the game was tight with the first quarter being 2-5 in favor of The Mustangs. The second quarter was just as close as the first, with each team making big plays and The Gators having solid defense. Going into the third quarter, the score was 3-8, with neither team really pulling away resulting in another low-scoring quarter. In the 4th and final quarter, The Gators didn’t manage to break The Mustang’s lead, with the final score coming to 14-6 a hard-fought game from both sides.

Although The Gators didn’t manage to win this one, there was still one player that stood out among the rest. Jackson Spells put up 4 goals and one assist, north of 60% of the team’s total goals for the game. I asked Spells about how he felt the game went, and how he manages to score big goals for his team in tough games. “The game could’ve been better, we could’ve scored a few more goals, and I myself could’ve finished on more opportunities. We can build on this as a team on our road to the playoffs. I use my athleticism, speed, and size, to get to my spot and score big goals.”

After this game against Middle Creek, The Gators faced off against yet another tough team, The Apex Cougars. Prior to this matchup, The Gators managed to defeat The Cougars in an overtime win by just one point. If The Gators wanted a good seed in the playoffs, they needed to win this game, making it one of the most important games of the season.

Both teams were fired up coming into the game, with a very tight, 2-1 first quarter with The Gators managing to get the lead early. The second quarter was a huge one for The Gators with them managing to pull away and make the game theirs, putting up 7 goals and only allowing Apex to score 2. The third quarter was a very even one, with both teams putting up 3 goals each, making the score going into the fourth quarter, 12-6 with The Gators still up by 6. The fourth quarter was exactly the same, with each team scoring two goals resulting in a final score of 14-8, a huge Gator win!

Gus Maggio came to play tonight, the sophomore finished with 3 goals and 5 assists and never slowed down. Gus was also the overtime hero VS Apex the first time the two teams met this season! I asked Gus how he feels the level of performance was against Apex individually, and as a team. “The level of performance was very high, we finally started moving the ball a lot more, got more people touches on the ball, created space, and found easy opportunities. I think I did a good job finding the open man but also taking the shot when it was open for myself while also giving my teammates opportunities.”