Adams rolls past Troy to open D1 playoffs, 11-3

Rochester Adams’ Jace Morgan (1) prepares to fire the ball during the first round regional match played on Friday at Adams High School. Morgan had four goals to help the Highlanders advance with an 11-3 win. They will face the winner of Romeo and Rochester in the regional semifinal on May 23. PHOTOS BY KEN SWART — FOR MEDIANEWS GROUP

Troy’s Caleb Regner (left) looks to move past Adams’ Joey Hickson (7) during the first round regional match played on Friday at Adams High School. Regner had two goals in the Colts’ 11-3 loss to the Highlanders.

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By Michael J Wallwork

For MediaNews Group

ROCHESTER >> The Rochester Adams Highlanders rode a dominant first half to an 11-3 win over the Troy Colts in Friday’s D1 boys lacrosse regional opener.

Adams dominated in all phases leading up to intermission. The Highlanders got a first-half hat trick from Jace Morgan and two goals from Deacon Morgan as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead at halftime.

But it was the defense and goaltending that really made the difference. Troy simply could not solve the Highlander defense in the first half.

Adams goalie Samuel Kulasooriya was outstanding all night, stopping everything in the first half and finished with 14 saves.

“That’s exactly what we came out and we practiced yesterday. When you game plan, I don’t think you can put it up much better than what we did,” Adams head coach Bradley Smith said. “When you’re getting in the playoffs, you’re trying to play your best lacrosse; and I think defensively that was the best we’ve played all year. And we found some goalie help to lock that down,” he added.

Troy came out with an improved showing after halftime. The Colts were able to tighten up their defense and also managed to finally get their scorers loose a little bit. Caleb Regner found the back of the net twice for Troy and Jack Horvath also scored once.

But the Colts never got it closer than six goals as Adams was able to keep the Colts at arm’s length in the second half.

“Rochester Adams came out to play. They had a good game plan for us. We kind of came out and laid and egg in the first half. We had a better second half, but the energy just wasn’t there today,” Troy head coach Brian Johnson said.

Following a 13-9 defeat at Seaholm, Adams entered regionals on a three-game winning streak, earning decisive victories at Rochester and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, then closing with an 11-10 home win Wednesday against Royal Oak.

With Friday’s triumph, Adams improves to 9-7 overall and moves on to the regional semifinals at Troy Athens on May 23. The Highlanders, who competed in Division 2 last season, will play the winner of Saturday’s game between Romeo and Rochester.

“Really, it was a team effort today in terms of getting this win,” Smith said. “We need to keep playing like that. Hopefully, we’ll get that goalkeeping for the game. We’ll be watching the scoreboard close between Romeo and Rochester and then we’ll prepare for next Friday at Athens.”

Troy began the spring having lost three of its first handful of matches, then closed the regular season strong, winning its last six matches. The Colts finish their campaign with a 11-5 record.

“Last year, we graduated 19 seniors and nine starters, had only a couple from last year come back,” said Johnson, whose team reached the regional finals in 2024. “I really think an 11-5 season is pretty good for us with a lot of people who are brand new, and we have about 90% of our starters returning next year. So we’ll be ready. They’ll work in the offseason, and I’m excited to see what they can do.”