The Roxbury Latin hockey team capped a tough season with a loss to Worcester Academy Friday night, falling 4-3 at the Dexter School's Thorndike Arena to finish the winter with a 2-19 record.

The game was an entertaining one, with plenty of scoring, a number of impressive saves from both team's goalies, dueling up-tempo offensive strategies, and relatively few breaks in the action.

"It had the types of things you like to see in a hockey game," RL head coach Mo Randall said. "We rolled three lines, we played 10 forwards, we played six defensemen. The entire bench contributed to the game. We met some adversity, we went down early, but we came back and we had a shot in the end."

Worcester Academy started the scoring late in the first period when senior captain Billy Lane collected a teammate's pass from behind the net and deposited a wrist shot for the goal.  They went up 2-0 three minutes into the second on the first of junior forward Zach Gehring's two goals, with the second coming just three minutes later.

But RL was able to fight back in the game's second half, with sophomore forward Andrew Robinson scoring the Foxes' first goal. WA senior Michael Barton scored 12 minutes into the second period to make the score 4-1, but RL collected another less than two minutes later, when senior captain Thomas Buckley deflected a slapshot from the blueline by sophomore defenseman Matt Deveney. Less than four minutes into the third period, RL senior forward Danny Lempres scored the game's final goal.

The Foxes had some scoring opportunities late in the third, but WA goalie Tim Corey (28 saves) came up strong down the stretch. RL goalie Dylan Cleary also impressed in net, recording 28 saves of his own, including a number of the more acrobatic variety.

RL's final 2-19 record certainly is not glamorous, but Randall said after the game that a number of positives came from the tough season, and stressed that the experience gained by a roster full of young players is cause for optimism going forward.

"Half the roster was sophomores and younger," he said. "It was a tough schedule. There were a lot of really good teams this year, and we competed successfully. What makes me proud, and what's exciting looking forward, is that the young guys are now a whole lot more experienced.

"The mantra is that the young guys get older and the little guys get bigger."