Carlisle kicked off the heart of its 2013 boys' lacrosse schedule Thursday night with a workmanlike 12-6 win over Trinity in Mid-Penn Commonwealth boys' lacrosse action at COBO Field.
Chris Fowler paced the Thundering Herd, the leaders of the Commonwealth Division, with four goals and two assists, while Max Breschi and Matt Quattrone chipped in three apiece.
It was the first game in a brutal stretch for last year's District 3 runner-ups. Steve Kidder's club will face defending District 3 champ Ephrata, Palmyra, Keystone leader Hershey and Lancaster-Lebanon power Hempfield all within the next week.
"I'm really happy with my guys, they played hard and they didn't make a lot of mistakes or mental errors," Kidder said.
Carlisle (9-0, 8-0), which holds a one game lead over State College in the Commonwealth, snapped a 1-1 tie late in the first quarter with a decisive four goal run.
Breschi picked up a loose ball in the attacking end and fired a shot past Trinity goalie Karl Dickey to make it 2-1. Quattrone, Jon Mundell and Fowler followed with quick scores as the visitors led 5-1 after one quarter.
All four goals came within the final 3:02 of the opening frame.
Mundell, who added two goals of his own and won 12 of 14 faceoffs, scored on a feed from Fowler to open the third quarter before Quattrone found the back of the net just over a minute later to push the lead to 7-1.
It wasn't until the fourth quarter that Trinity (7-3, 5-2) was able to gain any traction offensively.
"We looked at their two excellent midfielders [Mark] Hergenroeder and [John] Miller and we know what outstanding players they are," Kidder said.
"We wanted to make them slide early and double the ball and make them get rid of it."
David Hergenroeder led Trinity with three goals, while Connor Bailey and Miller found the back of the net. Griffin Smith was also credited with a goal for Dave Heisey's team.
"Steve is the best coach in the Mid-Penn at coming up with a game plan for a specific team and he always seems to do it to us," Heisey said.
"We had eight turnovers in that first quarter and that's a killer against a complete team like that."
Hunter Barrick and Mark Bowser combined for nine saves for the Herd, while Dickey finished with five stops for the 'Rocks.
Defensively, Mundell and Sid Ewell finished with six ground balls apiece for Carlisle, while Trinity's Jon Behnke had five.