Boys lacrosse: Netminder Selters shines as Erie routs Jefferson Academy

ERIE — A no-school-tomorrow kind of Tuesday evening, Colin Selters, the young netminder for Erie’s lacrosse program, could be seen doing his best impression of Saran Wrap stuck around each goal post.

His imprint, however, goes deeper than that for the surging Tigers.

The sophomore turned away seven shots in one half in net before his night was finished. Even in his short stint, he flexed his supreme field vision — even showing a little something extra as he connected on a long pass to a streaking Hayden Sock for the early, tone-setting goal.

All of it helped Class 4A No. 3 ranked Erie beat Jefferson Academy 20-9 for its sixth straight victory.

“He understands the game at a very high level,” Erie coach Nick Mandia said of his keeper. “His brain — I mean the game is moving slower for him.”

The Tigers scored seven of the first eight goals and led 13-4 at the half to help their cause in trying to reach 4A’s trimmed-down, 12-team postseason bracket.

Liam Connors, ranked sixth on the 4A goals leaderboard, had four more in the first half for Erie. Charlie O’Brien, the team’s other freshman sensation, and who was a place ahead of Connors on the classification’s goal list, had three. Captain Corby Tecu also tallied another three.

In all, 11 different players scored for the Tigers.

“Offensively, that’s certainly our strength right now,” Mandia said. “We have a lot of firepower.”

Since their double overtime loss to 4A Northern League add-on Cheyenne Mountain in the opener, the Tigers have conquered opponents by an impressive 100-to-33 margin. In each of them, they’ve scored in double figures while allowing less than 10 goals.

As for the league race, the Tigers (6-1, 5-1) are currently a game in the loss column behind the Indians (7-1, 5-0). Jefferson Academy (2-5, 2-3) is two games back of that.

Only the league champ in the Northern League will get an automatic postseason bid. The rest of the teams will need to make their case for an at-large bid. The Tigers, appearing to be in good shape with a No. 3 ranking in the CHSAANow.com coaches poll, and a No. 6 ranking in the RPI, have high expectations from here.

It’s still “to win a championship,” said Selters, who was in eighth grade when Erie won league and reached the second round of the postseason in its inaugural year in 2019. “We know we could have done it our first year … and last year, we know we definitely could have done it, but got (unlucky) due to COVID.”

Selters, heads up from the start Tuesday, stole a goal with a quick stick in the opening seconds, then quickly flipped to Sock sprinting down the middle of the field for a walk-in slam.

“Hayden Sock is the fastest kid on the field every game we go into,” Mandia said. “The two of them can get up and out really quickly. Sock understands he’s literally running a fly pattern every time the ball is saved.”

Minutes later, Connors answered Jefferson Academy’s first strike with a nifty grounder through the keeper’s five-hole. And a while after that, in one of those ‘Wait! What did he just do?’ moments — he stood down a defender in front of the net before twisting a behind-the-back chance that whipped the top corner of the net to push the lead to 8-2.

Connors and Tecu then scored back-to-back goals in the final 59 seconds of the half to push the lead out to 13-4.

For the second half, Selters was replaced in net.

Evan Shanks had four goals in leading Jefferson Academy, while Joe Cesario added successive goals in the third to cut the lead to 14-7.

It wasn’t enough as the Jags lost for the third time in four games.

Next, Erie will host Thompson Valley Thursday. It beat the Eagles 14-6 in their first meeting on May 20.

Jefferson Academy travels to Holy Family Monday. The Jags beat the Tigers 14-9 at home on May 19.