Despite being short-handed and battling through a wind-filled, rainy 48 minutes, boys lacrosse found a way to get it done at home against Buffalo Grove, defeating the Bison, 7-3, in the Kits’ season opener.

Due to a combination of injuries and coaches’ decisions, the Kits were down seniors Matt Streicker, Michael Singer, junior Tommy Allocco and junior goalie Omar Pryor on Wednesday night, but a strong defensive effort propelled Evanston to 1-0 on the season. With Pryor out, Evanston head coach Rob Fournie called on freshman goalie Will Palin to guard the net in what was his first high school lacrosse game.

With the help of the Evanston defense, Palin and the Kits only allowed three goals on the night and held the Bison to just one shot in the entire first half.

“We knew we had to support Will tonight. I think we did a pretty good job,” senior Colin Swanson said.

Sophomore Amaru Greene kicked off the scoring for Evanston just under four minutes into the game, and Swanson added to the Kits’ lead just 11 seconds later after winning the faceoff and taking it himself all the way to the net. Later in the quarter, Swanson dished the ball to senior Jonas Foran, who found the back of the goal to put the Kits up 3-0 going into the second quarter.

From there on, seniors Andrew Gamauf, Luke Van Overmeiren, junior Sebastian Rene and Greene chipped in goals in a relatively slow final three quarters. Van Overmeiren put the cherry on top late in the fourth quarter with a behind-the-back goal that went right past Bison goalie Trevor Catlett.

“We were missing a few guys, but I’m glad we got the win,” Swanson said. “It was a little sloppy but we just need to move on to the next.”

The Kits will take on Glenbard West at home on Wednesday, Mar. 20 at 6:30 p.m.