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North boys lacrosse wins crucial games
North doubled up Williamsville East, 16-8, on Tuesday, May 22 to win their third straight Williamsville Cup and followed with a 10-5 win at Clarence in a Section VI Class A quarterfinal game on Friday, May 25. North (12-7), seeded fifth, plays at top-seed Orchard Park in a semifinal game at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30. "Winning the Williamsville Cup and eliminating Clarence from the playoffs meant a lot to the guys," said North coach Matt Smart. "Both games had a great deal of significance for the team and program. Winning the cup year in and year out is something each Spartan talks about at the beginning and end of the year. They talk with their buddies from East and South knowing that the cup means bragging rights in Williamsville for one year."
"I don't why we didn't come out more excited to play a huge game, but I ask myself 'why didn't we come to play against South?' (East lost 5-3 on May 17)," said East coach Ed Greenway. "It all comes back to the idea of we're young, and we don't know how to prepare for those kinds of experiences because we're not experienced. We don't have that senior saying 'this is a really important game so we need to get ourselves prepared.'" Greenway also credits North's play in the first half as all goals were scored by seniors. East bounced back in the third quarter, outscoring North, 6-2 but were outscored, 7-2, in the fourth quarter. "East has a young crew that their coaches teach very well," said Smart. "The future should be extremely bright for East." Evan Bryant (four goals, assist) and Matt Dindurski (three goals, two assists) led the North offense. Brent Rickan scored four times. Pat Mulvihill had two goals and two assists. Mike Jaszka (two goals, assist), Joe Greenwald (goal, assist), and assists by Rob Wilcox, Brian Cavagnaro, and Nick Stalker, also contributed to the Spartan victory. Ryan Geary scooped up 11 of North's 47 ground balls. East picked up 23 ground balls. Derek Frost (three goals, assist, won 9 of 14 faceoffs), Austin Weil (two goals, assist), Jay Winzenreid (goal), Brad Teal (goal), Peter Duggan (goal), Andrew Ross (ground balls), and Ryan Sheehan (18 saves) performed well for East. Smart called the Clarence win "nothing more than payback for a job unfinished." "On May 5, we walked into Clarence overconfident and expecting a win (lost 9-6)," Smart said. "On Friday, we went to Clarence looking to make a statement, and I feel that the guys made it." North led Clarence 4-3 by halftime and outscored the Red Devils, 3-1, in the third and fourth quarters to record the win. "We played a smart possession game and took our chances when we needed to," said Smart. Eight of North's 10 goals came unassisted. Dindurski scored three times, Stalker had two goals, and Bryant, Jaszka, Mulvihill, Geary, and Rob Pekarski scored one goal each. Brent Rickan and Jake Newton each had an assist. "Usually, we like to get more assisted goals, but on that day offensively, guys were able to beat their man and score," said Smart. Defensively, Smart believed his team finally brought a physical game. "It cost us a few penalties but we controlled the tempo and the emotion of the game because of it," said Smart. Smart said Brad Adkins led the charge on defense with two wonderful body checks that sent his man to the turf. Adkins had two interceptions, two blocked shots and at least three takeaway checks. "He helped fire the coaches and his teammates up," said Smart. Smart said North needs to believe that it can defeat Orchard Park. "Orchard Park is a team that we have proven we can play with but also a team that we have allowed for 10 years plus to beat us because we don't fully believe in our ability to win," said Smart. "Orchard Park is a good team but they make mistakes and can be beaten. We have the athletes, faceoff guy, goalie, defense, and offense but will we have the mental edge to do something that has never been done for North? I believe we do but it is not up to coach Cicco or I, it is on our guys' shoulders. I know they can win so Wednesday will be a test. We believe in ourselves and each other and if we play our game for four solid quarters and take away parts of theirs, we'll win." Williamsville East The Flames, seeded sixth in the Class B tournament, hung with the six-time section champs, Amherst, seeded third, for a half before unraveling in the third quarter to lose 12-6. East took a 1-0 lead in the first quarter and by halftime, was tied with Amherst 4-4. "We played a great first half," said Greenway. "Amherst wasn't patient on offense and we made them throw the ball away. We were also able to clear the ball and win faceoffs." "You always want your last game to be the best effort and I think we earned some respect in the first half," Greenway continued. "I think we're closer than we were last year to being able to compete with them." The Tigers' Brent Doerflein and Casey Rich, took the game on their shoulders in the second half and helping Amherst outscore East 4-0 and 4-2 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Doerflein and Rich finished with five goals each. Doerflein also had an assist. Frost won some faceoffs and scored two goals and assisted on another. Weil had two goals. Winzenreid also scored. Mike Faltisco had two assists. Sheehan made 12 saves. Dan Lawson had a goal and two assists, Kurt Ebsary scored a goal, Dan Cooper recorded two assists, and Tim Monahan chipped in an assist. Will Africano won 12 of 18 faceoffs. Amherst outshot East, 40-22, and picked up 71 ground balls to the Flames' 32. East finishes 9-10 and loses only five seniors - Andrew Ross, A.J. Forster, Joe Schriever, Andrew Duggan, and Varun Chakravarthy. Amherst (9-9) will play at second seed West Seneca East in the Class B semifinals at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30. The winner plays Hamburg or Sweet Home in the Class B final at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 1 at Amherst. e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com |
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