Williamsville East searches for an identity
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Thirteen games into the 2007 season, the Williamsville East boys lacrosse team is still trying to find itself.

"Every game, I'm not sure what makeup of our team is going to show up," said East coach Ed Greenway. "I'm always curious how we will face adversity and which leader will step up. We haven't played our best game or our worst. I think we're still struggling with finding our identity. If we continue to search for it and if we keep working hard, I think good things will come."

East (8-5, 2-3) faced adversity in road games with Lancaster on April 30 and West Seneca East on May 1.

The Flames trailed Lancaster, 4-2, at halftime before persevering for a 7-4 win. Andrew Ross' hat trick, Derek Frost's two goals and single tallies by Mike Faltisco and Joe Schriever led the East offense.

The Flames also grabbed 56 ground balls. Ryan Sheehan made 16 saves and Rashawn Durden, Josh Roetzer and Michael Brooks led the East defense.

East scored first against West Seneca East - clearing a pass from Roetzer to Schriever - but wound up losing 6-3.

Greenway said his team showed its inexperience in a couple of man-up situations by throwing the ball away.

"Some of our young guys caved under the pressure," said Greenway. "I was pleased with our effort, but West Seneca East was a much more seasoned team."

Schriever scored twice and Faltisco added a goal for the Flames. Sheehan made 13 saves, including four big stops to keep East in the game.

Greenway lauded the work of West Seneca East's Greg Bensman for setting up Trojan fast breaks and negating Flames' fast breaks.

East closed out the week with a 9-7 road win at Lockport. East led the whole way.

Austin Weil (three goals, assist), Ross (three goals), and Andrew Duggan (goal, three assists) paced East. Jay Winzenreid scored and had a good game on penalty kills, added Greenway. Brad Teal also scored. Sheehan made 16 saves.

East played Amherst on Monday, but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. The Flames host Frontier at 5 p.m. Friday, May 11.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com