Northwestern head coach Marcus Janda was disappointed with how his Tigers played the first half in Friday’s lacrosse game at Pleasant Valley.

However, Northwestern picked up the pace in the second half, scoring eight goals en route to a 12-6 victory over the Bears.

“Ultimately, I thought we played a pretty flat first half,” Janda said. “I was a little disappointed with how our team came out after a bit of a road trip.

“Hats off to Pleasant Valley, they played us very tight in that first half. That’s a pretty solid team over there and well coached. I’m proud that we showed some resiliency. We bounced back and we came out swinging in the second half. We played more fundamental lacrosse and ultimately we were able to grind out the victory.”

The Tigers and Bears were knotted in a 2-2 tie after the first quarter while dodging raindrops. Northwestern held a slim 4-3 lead going into halftime and didn’t relinquish it once the game resumed.

“The fundamentals are lacking on our side,” Pleasant Valley head coach Vin Arezzi said. “We couldn’t do basic things like pick up a ground ball and make passes on offense. We played very hurried and we didn’t settle ourselves. With only 16 players on our roster, it also wasn’t a pace we could keep up with.”

Janda pointed to a few of his players who he thought were instrumental in the victory.

“Zach Rosamaila really put the team on his back,” Janda said. “He does the stuff that doesn’t show up in the scorebook. He’s kind of a work horse for us. He does the stuff in between the boxes that’s not too glamorous, but it’s pivotal to win lacrosse games. Taylor Weikert also played well. He’s a guy that works hard. Those two guys in between the boxes were huge for us.

“In that first half, our goalie Tyler Lobach, really stood on his head and kept us in the game when the guys in front of him weren’t playing the best lacrosse.”

In their inaugural versity lacrosse season, the Tigers now sport a .500 record.

“I’m happy we’re a 3-3 team right now,” Janda said. “We’re trying to compete day in-and-out, so I’m proud with the progress we’ve made since the fall until now. We just need to continue to improve.”

On the other side of things, Pleasant Valley (2-8) was able to hang with the Tigers early before Northwestern took complete control of the game.

Michael McCue led the Bears scoring with two goals.

“We have a very young team,” Arezzi said. “We only have three seniors this year after graduating eight last year. We’re in a situation where we’re trying to teach all the young guys how to play varsity lacrosse and it’s going to take some time.

“They don’t have a lot of patience sometimes and haven’t settled into the speed of the game which is a lot faster than it is in the youth program. So we just have to try to get them up to speed.”

UP NEXT… Both teams will have a few days before the next games on their schedules. Northwestern has Moravian Academy on Tuesday, while Pleasant Valley will be back in action Monday against Easton.