“It was definitely a lot of fun to play against him, just thinking about all the time we would go to our local field and shoot on him,” Kirst said. “It’s fun to play on this stage and play against each other.”

The game also served as a valuable opportunity to get some new faces on the field for the Whipsnakes before playoffs begin.

New addition Jackson Morrill started the game at attack and seemed to get more comfortable as the game went on, finishing with a team-high three assists and received high praise from Stagnitta. 

“I would have liked to get the ball to Jackson a little bit more because he makes things happen,” Stagnitta said. “I thought when the ball was in his stick, he made some great decisions and found some people. I thought we played some of our best offense when the ball swung through him.”

Goalie Kyle Bernlohr returned to the field for the first time since suffering an elbow injury in Fairfield and played the full game in net.

“I thought he held up pretty well,” Stagnitta said. “The expectations of him were just that he would go out there and get four quarters under his belt and get used to the speed and the shots, and I thought he did a good job with that. He made some big saves.”

The loss drops the Whipsnakes to the 6th seed entering the playoffs. They will face the 3rd-seeded Waterdogs in the quarterfinals next Monday in Boston.

The Whipsnakes could very well make some noise in the playoffs, but just have to play better lacrosse across the board.

“It’s a new season coming up, but we’re going to have to do some things different if we’re going to expect to get different results,” Stagnitta said.