GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland boys’ lacrosse team is still looking for that perfect game.

Despite not playing its best lacrosse for an entire game, the Dutchmen picked up another win, beating Shenendehowa on Thursday, 7-5.

Guilderland improved its record to 9-1 this season.

“Maybe we’ve put together a good 24 minutes in a game so far,” said Guilderland Coach Sean McConaghy. “We’ve won three in a row since Niskayuna. It’s nice to get a win over Shen any time.”

“We were up by four goals and coach told us to slow down,” said senior attack Quinn Connell. “Shen had the ball a lot in the fourth quarter. We let down a bit. But at the end, we stopped them.”

The Dutchmen led, 6-2, at the end of the third quarter.

Aaron Cahill received a pass from Connell up top and fired a shot into the net to give Guilderland the four-goal lead with 1:04 left in the third frame.

Shen came back in the fourth stanza getting a goal from Jon Olsen with 9:52 left in the contest. Jesse Elliot assisted on the tally.

Elliot scored a goal of his own with 5:14 left in the contest and added another one with 4:36 left in the game.

Guilderland got some breathing room about 30 seconds later.

Rory Nunamacher’s unassisted goal put the Dutch up by two goals, 7-5. The Dutch were then able to run out the clock to preserve the win.

A winning defense

Guilderland led, 1-0, at the end of the first quarter on a goal by Nunamacher.

Connell sent a pass to Nunamacher who was cutting towards the goal. Nunamacher caught the ball and fired a shot behind his back and into the goal.

Shen tied the game with 5:15 left in the second quarter.

Olsen scored with an assist from Kevin Bloss.

Connell scored to put the Dutchmen up, 2-1, late in the second quarter. Connell came from behind the goal and fired a shot on net with 3:17 left until halftime.

Travis Moore gave the Dutchmen a 3-1 lead with 1:38 left until halftime.  Connell assisted on the goal.

Shen cut the Guilderland lead back down to one as Olsen tallied with an assist from Elliot. The goal came with 43 seconds left in the first half.

Nunamacher took advantage of an unsettled situation to score the fourth goal of the game for the Dutch.

After a missed shot by a teammate, Nunamacher scooped up a loose ball in front of the goal and put a shot in the cage.

Paul Jones made the score 5-2 with 5:59 left in the third frame. Jones’s tally was assisted by Connell.

Nick Koss was solid in goal for the Dutchmen. He made eight saves, including one when he was caught out of position but reached back and was able to get his stick on the ball.

Koss anchored a defense that was solid for most of the game.

“Defense is winning us games,” Connell said. “We’re not scoring a lot. When they hold teams to four or five goals, that helps us. A lot of times we just need to score six goals. Defense is a big help.”

“They had three meltdowns that led to three goals,” McConaghy said of his defense. “Two of the goals scored against us were good offensive plays. A couple of times, they had mental breakdowns. But they’re high school kids. It happens.”

McConaghy felt that his players didn’t hustle enough and did not make good decisions on offense.

“They beat on us on ground balls,” McConaghy said. “We have to do a better job of moving the ball around. We’d throw two passes, then take a shot that hits the goalie in the chest, or throw on pass and then hit the goalie in the stick. Our offense didn’t help our defense in the fourth quarter.”

Connell feels that, being the lone senior attackmen, he needs to take on more of a leadership role.

“I tried to be a leader in the timeouts,” he said. “I tried to get the team as fired up as possible. I also try to lead by example and stay cool and calm on the field. If I act crazy, it can reflect on the guys.”

“We have to play a team game”

The win was the third in a row for the Dutchmen since a one-goal loss to Niskayuna on April 22. Guilderland beat Columbia, Bethlehem, and Shen heading into a game against Burnt Hills that was played on Tuesday.

Guilderland then plays Bethlehem on Thurdsay, Albany Academy on Saturday, and at Saratoga on Tuesday.

McConaghy and Connell are expecting to see some changes for the better, expecially on offense.

“We have to move the ball around,” Connell said. “We have to find the best scoring option. It’s all one-on-one. We have to play a team game and that will help us.”

“When we play team offense, we do a good job,” McConaghy said. “When we play individual offense, we don’t.”

Connell still expects to help lead this team to its intended goal.

“It’s all about winning a sectional championship,” Connell said. “The whole team wants that. We’re coming together, but we can still get better. This was a great game to win.”