The Rosemount boys’ lacrosse team is built on camaraderie and carbohydrates. 

 

“Usually on Mondays we have a team dinner together,” senior midfielder Simon Hatlen said, adding that the menu does not change for the Irish. 

 

“It’s always pasta.”

 

The noodles must be working for Rosemount, which defeated South Suburban Conference rival Lakeville South 12-7 on Friday night behind a trio of hat tricks by Hatlen, senior attacker Luke VanOverbeke and junior midfielder Chris Giere.

 

“We have threats from all the positions,” Irish coach Lance Kuehn said. “All of our attackers can score, all of our middies can score."

 

Scoring seems to be no problem for Rosemount (4-1, 3-1), but staying out of the penalty area proves to be challenging, as a slew of fouls called in the third quarter allowed Lakeville South (4-1, 3-1) to score five goals and claw its way back into the game. 

 

“Lacrosse is always a game of runs, and we let them get a run,” Kuehn said. “Fortunately, we got back together as a team, talked about it, and had a much better fourth quarter.”

 

VanOverbeke scored three of the final six Irish goals while dishing out three assists in the win, giving him 13 goals and a team-high 28 points.

 

Although Rosemount returned a bevy of talent from last year’s 12-3 team, Kuehn says that the understandably high expectations come from the players themselves. 

 

“It’s more internal than anything, that we want to succeed,” Kuehn said. “I’ve been coaching these guys since middle school, and we have less than a dozen losses in five years of being together. That’s where the expectations come from.”

 

Those expectations are self-admittedly higher for VanOverbeke, who’s older brother Grant graduated in 2011 and is currently the program’s fourth-leading scorer in career points with 192. 

 

“I want to be better than him, so that’s for sure motivation,” VanOverbeke said after adding six points to his own total in Friday’s win. 

 

Two of VanOverbeke’s three assists went to Hatlen, a common occurrence during Irish games, and a statistic Hatlen attributes to the time spent between the two refining their skills and perfecting chemistry. 

 

“We hang out all the time off the field, just (watching) lacrosse and shooting in our spare time,” Hatlen said. 

 

That familiarity spreads across the Irish roster, Hatlen added. 

 

“We’ve been playing together for four years,” Hatlen said. “Everybody knows where they’re going to be on the field.”

Seniors Simon Hatlen and Luke VanOverbeke and junior Chris Giere scored three goals each to lead Rosemount to a 12-7 road victory over Lakeville South in South Suburban Conference action on Friday night.

 

VanOverbeke added three assists in the win for the Irish (4-1, 3-1), while senior attacker Brett Anderson and midfielders Sam Newton and Jonah Halterman each scored once for Rosemount, ranked No. 9 in the latest state coaches poll.

 

Attackers Donavon Dempsey and David Byers each scored twice for the Cougars (4-1, 3-1), with midfielders Nicholas Peterson, Chaise Leqve and Skyler Rust notching one goal apiece in the loss.