Boys lacrosse
South defeats East, could lead to three-way tie for Will Cup
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South long stick midfielder Nate Lennert, left, fires a ball past a Clarence defender during the Billies' 7-6 road loss on Thursday. May 10. Lennert leads South with 103 ground balls. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville South coach John Szymendara said his boys lacrosse team always gets up to play Williamsville East and this year was no different.

The Billies defeated the Flames, 5-3, under the lights at South on Thursday, May 17. South beat East, 5-4, in double overtime two years ago.

"Without a doubt, it was the best game we've played all year," said Szymendara. "It was the first time we put four quarters of lacrosse together. Beating East made up for some hard losses we've had this year."

If East defeated Williamsville North on Tuesday, May 22, the Williamsville Cup, awarded to the Williamsville team with the best head-to-head record against each other, will be split between East, North and South. A North victory gives the Spartans sole possession of the Williamsville Cup. The result of the East-North game was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

Sweet Home's Rich Beaudet, left, battles with Orchard Park's Greg Michael in the Panthers' 14-0 home loss on Monday, May 14. Photo by John Normile Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

South opened a 3-0 first half lead over East and was ahead, 3-1, by halftime.

The Billies were up 4-1 after the third quarter.

Junior attacker Gabe Gonzalez led South with two goals and an assist. Senior midfielder Jordan Feldberg also scored twice and sophomore midfielder Mike Glieco tallied once. Zach McClure also assisted.

According to Szymendara, the South defense of Nick Brace, Mike Walter and Anthony Irbacher, and Nate Lennert put on a "stick check show" and combined for 28 ground balls (Lennert 12, Brace, 10, Walter, 6). Lennert has 103 ground balls on the year followed by Brace (86) and Walter (78).

"The difference was how well South played defensively," commented East coach Ed Greenway. "It was probably the strongest I've seen them play defense all year."

Greenway said the Flames scooped up 61 ground balls to 46 for South.

Jay Winzenreid and Austin Weil each had nine ground balls. Andrew Ross (eight), Brad Teal (six), and Derek Frost (five) also contributed.

Winzenreid scored on a nice individual effort in the first quarter and Ross, assisted by Weil, had fourth quarter goals for East.

"South played with a lot of intensity throughout the whole game and we lacked it at times," said Greenway. "It wasn't until the fourth that we demonstrated intensity. We didn't let the strength of our stick skills take control of their heart and desire."

South goalie Mike Quinlan, who has a 66 save percentage for the season, stopped 21 of 24 East shots. East's Matt Bradley made 11 saves.

Greenway also lauded the defensive work of the Flames' Ryan Dobos, Rashawn Durden, and Josh Roetzer.

The East win was South's third victory of the season. Two days earlier, the Billies dropped a 10-3 decision at Sweet Home. The Panthers jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter and were up 7-2 by halftime.

"Sweet Home was faster than we anticipated and in the first quarter, we weren't able to slide on defense in time to stop them," said Szymendara. "We made corrections in the second quarter but we dug ourselves too much of a hole in the first quarter."

"Right off the bat, we kind of sealed it," added Sweet Home coach John Faller. "Between our transition game and our six-on-six offense, we were able to do everything we were capable of doing."

Colin Cardinale and Sean Burns led Sweet Home with three points each. Cardinale had a goal and two assists. Burns had two goals and one assist. Eric Galdys had a goal and assist.

Chris Covel, Matt Zon, Eric Schnirel, Nick Cavalieri, Rich Beaudet, and Eric Danheiser scored single goals. Schnirel also had an assist and with Beaudet, scooped up eight ground balls each.

Goalie Chris Lyon made 10 saves on 13 shots. Sweet Home also won eight of 14 faceoffs.

Feldburg, Lou Cascino and junior Dave Quinlan tallied for South.

Other games South had dropped as of late were Clarence, 7-6, on Wednesday, May 9, Williamsville North, 12-4, on Friday, May 11, and West Seneca West, 6-2, on Monday, May 14.

Szymendara called the Clarence game "the second best game we've played all year."

Trailing 7-4, South scored twice late but could not gain possession to set up a tying goal. Joe Glieco led South with a goal and two assists. Nick Frongos scored twice. Mike Quinlan made 24 saves.

South played North tough in the first half, trailing 4-2 but the Spartans outscored them 8-4 in the second half. Joe Glieco scored three times for the Billies. Dave Quinlan also scored.

McClure and Joe Glieco scored against West Seneca West. Joe Glieco, who will play at Medaille College next year, leads all South scorers with 18 goals.

South closed out the regular season at home on Monday, May 21 against East Aurora and at Frontier on Tuesday, May 22. South will host Lake Shore in a Class B play-in game on Wednesday, May 23. The winner plays at Hamburg on Friday, May 25.

Sweet Home

The Panthers' other game was a 14-0 loss at Orchard Park on Monday, May 14. Lyon made 20 saves on 34 shots.

"The kids weren't ready to play and that's what happens when you go against a good team," said Faller.

Greg Michael led OP with three goals.

Sweet Home (10-8, 4-4) will play a yet-to-be-determined opponent on Friday, May 25 in the Section VI Class B quarterfinals.

Colin Cardinale leads Sweet Home with 32 goals and 18 assists for 50 points. Burns has 28 goals and 15 assists for 43 points. Covel has 24 goals and seven assists for 31 points. Lyon has made 217 saves on 346 shots for a 63 save percentage.

"We're where we want to be," said Faller. "We'll give it a shot on Friday."

Williamsville East

East opened the week with a 13-10 win over Iroquois on Tuesday, May 15.

Iroquois led 6-0 at halftime but the Flames used a 6-0 third quarter to get the lead. Weil and Frost each scored twice and Mike Faltisco and Ross had single goals in the third.

"I think they realized they've been in that kind of situation before and the kids took it upon themselves to play well," said Greenway.

Frost, a sophomore, finished with three goals and one assist, won 13 of 16 faceoffs, and scooped up 10 ground balls.

Weil finished with four goals. Ross (three goals, assist), Faltisco (two goals, five ground balls), Teal (goal, assist), Roetzer and Peter Duggan (assist each), and Winzenreid (five ground balls) also contributed. Ryan Sheehan made five saves in the first half. Bradley recorded four saves in the second half.

The team was playing without Joe Schriever (twisted ankle) and Andrew Duggan (head injury).

East (9-8, 3-5) plays in the Section VI Class B quarterfinals on Friday.