WYOMING – Wyoming Area’s boys lacrosse team had its plans for the day and, quite possibly, the entire season disrupted by one shot during warm-ups Wednesday.

All-star midfielder Sam Greenfield left the team with an injury before the Warriors took on Tunkhannock with first place in Division 2 of the Wyoming Valley Conference on the line for the defending champions.

Greenfield, a four-year starter who scored 52 goals a year ago, wound up needing surgery that night to repair a ruptured spleen.

By the end of the week, Greenfield was out of the hospital and home beginning his recovery while Wyoming Area was doing its best to move forward as a lacrosse team.

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Dominic DeLuca helped the Warriors through the immediate issues.

DeLuca stepped into Greenfield’s spot in an altered midfield rotation and led the team with four goals and two assists in a 13-3 win over Tunkhannock.

A group of less-experienced players then put together impressive auditions during the junior varsity game that followed, giving coach Shaun Rohland some options to turn to for the rest of the season.

“We’re just looking for our younger guys to step up and add depth that we didn’t have before,” Rohland said. “In the JV game, a lot of guys really impressed me.”

Greenfield was a first-team Times Leader all-star pick last season after earning second-team honors as a sophomore.

DeLuca, a sophomore, was already a significant part of the midfield rotation before spending most of Wednesday’s game playing with a new combination.

The Warriors led 7-3 at halftime before DeLuca scored two of the first three second-half goals and assisted on the other.

“We came out flat, so I told the guys we needed to come out and play better in the second half,” Rohland said. “They certainly responded to the message.

“They came out firing offensively and defensively.”

DeLuca put together a highlight-reel goal to finish the flurry, flipping a shot over his shoulder with his back to the goal on a rebound.

“We mess around with them,” DeLuca said of various behind-the-back and other blind shots. “We practice it a lot.”

Rohland said he does not discourage such practice.

“They actually practice that, those guys in front of the crease, when they’re messing around,” Rohland said. “They always practice, the over-the-head, behind-the-back, which I’m fine with.

“We’ll take goals however we can get them.”

Conor McCormick, Corey Mruk and Derek Ambrosino led the defensive effort that held Tunkhannock scoreless in the second half.

Jakob Switzer and Justin Joseph each had two goals and an assist in the win. Alex Hawk also had two goals while Ethan Hosier had a goal and two assists and Alex Gonzales had a goal and assist.

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By TOM ROBINSON

For Sunday Dispatch

Reach the Sunday Dispatch newsroom at 570-655-1418 or by email at sd@psdispatch.com.