If the Benedictine Cadets are going to get past the second round this year, which is a place they’ve never been, certain steps need to be taken during the season. Cadets second-year coach Dustin White believes the team is on the right path, and he would know.
A 2014 graduate of Benedictine, White played for the program in its infancy, when the Cadets competed in the South Carolina Independent Lacrosse League. White and the program won two SCILL titles before they joined the GHSA in 2014, White’s senior season. They lost in the first round to eventual Class 1A-5A champions Northview.
The Cadets have built a winner by beating the best teams in their area, including schools along South Carolina’s coast. However, to build a perennial playoff winner, they’ll need to compete with the Greater Atlanta schools.
This season, the Cadets (10-1), ranked No. 2 in 1A-4A, have played two of those schools — No. 9 Pace Academy and 5A-6A’s No. 8 GAC — and are 1-1 in those games. They beat Pace Academy 8-6 on Feb. 25 and lost Monday to GAC, 10-5, in a game they led 4-1 after a quarter.
Though the loss cost the Cadets the top spot in the 1A-5A, White said that’s exactly the type of experience the team needs to take the next step.
“At some point we’re going to have to get punched in the mouth,” White said. “Early in the season when we beat Pace, it gave us confidence that we can compete (with the Greater Atlanta schools). With GAC, we haven’t seen that level of talent yet. When we were up early on them and everything was going well, it was a situation we didn’t think we’d be in. GAC is a great team, and great teams don’t folder over. Maybe we thought they would, but they have D-I level-type players, and they outscored us 6-0 in the second half.
“It was a good experience for our guys to see a well-coached, well-trained team that’s able to shoot from deep. I hope seeing a team like that will help us for the playoff run.”
With Benedictine in Savannah, it has taken time for the Cadets to bridge the gap between their school and the programs up north, but the progress is evident. Both Pace Academy and GAC made the trek to Savannah, with GAC taking advantage of the beach by scheduling the game as part of its spring break.
“Years ago, if we’d asked an Atlanta school to come to us, they would have asked why,” White said. “They could find someone competitive right down the street.”
With the Cadets competitive, teams from the north traveling to Benedictine is a trend White hopes continues. Ideally, the Cadets will one day host an annual in-season event that pits the south’s best against the Greater Atlanta schools.
“That would be great,” White said. “I was talking to some of the GAC coaches and parents, and they were having a lot of fun. A lot of them went to Tybee Island. The goal is to get more Atlanta schools down here, and for them it can be a break from the city life and all of that traffic. It’s a different lifestyle down here in Savannah. You can slow down and take it easy, but at the same time, we’re competitive so you’ll get something out of it.”
This season, White is emphasizing team balance. He switched the offensive formation from a 2-3-1 to a 1-4-1, which gets more players involved. Cadets season stats back that philosophy. They’re led by attacker Trey Zanone (21 goals, 23 assists), midfielder Calvin Rose (37, 5) and midfielder Liam Hogan (20, 9). All are juniors.
“In the past, we’d have one guy we’d get the ball to and he would handle all of our scoring,” White said. “That would work for us around here, but against a good, competitive team out of Atlanta, they’d have a good defender who could stop our guy. When that happens, how do we score? We had to get everybody involved.”
Junior Riley Wilson wins 72% of faceoffs, adding 70 ground balls and just over 40 points.
Defensively, sophomore Nick Hall has an eye-opening 70% save percentage.
“He’s kept us in a lot of games,” White said of Hall. “If he’s not our goalie, we probably lose (the GAC) game 16-5.”
Next week, the Cadets will travel to North Carolina for spring break. They’ll play Chapel Hill (7-4) on April 13. Two days later, they’ll be at Duke to watch the men’s Blue Devils lacrosse team, ranked No. 1, take on No. 3 Virginia in a top-five, all-ACC showdown.
“Most of our guys have never seen a D-I lacrosse game,” White said. “We have maybe one who’s seen a game at that level. We’ll play a good, competitive (Chapel Hill) team, and that won’t be an easy game, and then we’ll catch a great college lacrosse game.”
The Cadets, who are 4-0 in Area 8, close the regular season against No. 7 Savannah Country Day (9-2, 4-0) for a chance at their fourth consecutive area title. They beat Country Day 10-5 last season.
Winning Area 8 would mean a first-round bye, which would automatically advance the Cadets the furthest they’ve been. This season, the first goal is to go further.
“We’d really like to win a second round game,” White said. “Getting out of the second round and seeing how far we can go would mean a lot for this school.”
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