| Bath, CA, Livonia and AQ Win |
March 29, 2008 -  - With the
Monroe County Athletic Directors, canceling play at Paetec, McAvoy, Irondequoit
and Brighton, the only four games (all involving GRALL teams) were on a cold
but sunny Saturday. Three of four GRALL teams were victorious over their competition
as those dedicated lacrosse fan who braved the cold, saw great games played
at the Wegman's Field at the Aquinas Institute.
 In the first game of the morning Bath defeated Mynderse 11-7 and controlled
the game through-out to move on to 2-0 for the first time in the history of
the program. In the 12:00 game, Aquinas defeated visiting Section VI team St.
Joseph 15-4. The disparity in the score suggests that Aquinas easily handled
the Marauders, however, Aquinas was trailing 2-4 before scoring the last 13
goals of the contest spanning the last 19 minutes of play. The third game of
the day was the only defeat for the GRALL teams as Canandaigua had no difficulty
defeating McQuaid Jesuit 12-3. To finish up the day Livonia defeated Newark 11-7 in
a game where Newark kept fighting back and never gave up.
Bath was the opening game of the day and they defeated Mynderse 11-7. Bath
led three of the four quarters in the competition (2-1, 3-2, 4-1, 2-3). Coach
Ken DiDomineck was excited for the Rams as they start their season the best
yet. "It's an exciting time to be a Bath lacrosse player", said the Coach after
the win.
Mynderse opened the scoring with Dustin Luckinbill picking up a ground ball
and shooting a high side-arm shot into the corner of the net. Bath's Nick Rossi
scored the next two goals to give the Rams the lead. As the first quarter ended,
it was obvious that this was going to be a good game to watch.
The second quarter started with two Mynderse goals. Charlie Barbay scored after
dodging three men from the top and then assisted Luckinbill on his second goal
of the morning. After a bad defensive deflection by a Mynderse defenseman,
Bath tied the game again. Bath then kicked it into high gear, scoring the next
five goals and never looked back. Zach Reed scored three goals in a row for
the Rams and continued to lead in both goals and points for Bath, even though
he is only a freshman.
In the fourth quarter Mynderse tried to make one last stand and scored three
goals back to back, two more for Luckinbill.
McKenzie Durham scored three goals and had two assists for the Rams and demonstrated
his senior leadership on and off the field, "The last two years were tough,
starting the season 2-0 is a good start."
A major factor helping Bath was at the face-off X where they won 16/22 including
a number of fast-break situations directly from the face-offs. Neither team
made anything out of extra-man opportunities. Mynderse had a difficult time
clearing the ball with 41%, while Bath cleared well at 68%.
Scoring for Bath were Durham (3g-2a), Reed (3g), Harris (2g-1a), Reed (2g),
Beebe (1g-1a) and Mark Martuscello (1a).
Scoring for Mynderse were Barbay (2g-3a), Luckinbill (4g), Danny Galusha (1g)
and A.J. Bachman (1a).
 For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full
statistics.
 In
the second game of the day, Aquinas came back from an early
deficit and scored the final 13 goals while holding the Marauders from St.
Joseph (Buffalo) scoreless for 18 minutes. The final scored was 15-4.
St. Joseph started the game with crisp clean passes, a hard fought hustle on
ground balls, 66% face-off wins, and a goalie who made some amazing saves (including
the first 18 minutes without allowing a goal). Jonathan Rossi and JP McCleary
scored the opening goals for the Marauders, taking a 2-0 lead into the second
quarter.
Aquinas scored the first goal of the second quarter as Neil Foley scored his
first of three goals (assisted by Dylan Pinto). Jonathan Bond retaliated and
kept the Marauders up by two. Austin Gorman and Cameron Corsaro put another
tally on the board for the Little Irish with a cross-cage pass to a low inside
scoring shot. The half ended with the Little Irish down by one goal.
Marc Brondon, a senior for the Little Irish, talked about halftime saying "the
coaches sat us down and talked us up during the half, and we came together
and played well" [during the second half].Although St. Joseph scored the first
goal of the second half, from a fast break by Bond, the Little Irish dominated
the rest of the game.
The freshman goalie who had played so well in the first half (78%) had difficulty
after Aquinas began to score and dropped to 38% in the second half. Although
the Marauders had held the Little Irish scoreless for the first 18 minutes,
Aquinas returned in the last 18 minutes to keep the Marauders scoreless. However,
where St. Joseph only scored two goals during their time, Aquinas scored 13
goals. Additionally, after winning over two-thirds of the face-offs the Marauders
lost 10/11 in the fourth quarter with three different face-off men for the
Little Irish won draws.
Looking at the first six goals, the Little Irish used both new talent as well
as experienced leadership for goals that were scored by both senior Brondon
and sophomore Austin Gorman: Brondon, Gorman, Brondon, Gorman, Gorman, Brondon,
Gorman. After Aquinas took a four goal lead many other players began to score:
Cameron Corsaro, Foley, Jasen Torres, Mike Gray, Anthony Bianchi and Dylan
Pinto.
Coach Jerry Dawes said of his team "Although we came out flat we elevated our
game tremendously in the fourth quarter."
As was true in the first game of the season, (Aquinas versus St. Francis),part
of their scoring came from the high number of shots that they took. Aquinas
out shot St. Joseph 51-15 (27-10 on cage). The high number of opportunities
for Aquinas gave them an advantage in both games. Additionally, as in the St.
Francis game, the Little Irish dominated the ground ball game 58-30.
Scoring for Aquinas were Gorman (4g-2a), Foley (3g), Brondon (3g), Corsaro
(1g-2a), Bianchi (1g-2a), Gray (1g-1a), Torres (1g) and Bernard Gauthier (1a).
Scoring for St. Joseph were Bond (2g), Rossi (1g), McCleary (1g) and Brendan
Murphy (1a).
For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full
statistics.
The third game of the day was a rout, as Canandaigua slowly took apart McQuaid Jesuit,
12-3.
Senior attackman, Connor Henderson scored the first two goals of the game to
give Canandaigua an early lead. The Knight's Corey Flanigan scored their first
goal in an extra-man situation with 6:36 remaining. Justin Tomzak scored with
0:15 left in the first quarter and the Knights never came within one goal again.
McQuaid Jesuit's Nick Wolak scored along with Jeff MacDonald in the second half but
overall, Canandaigua looked strong on all aspects of the game. The Braves controlled
the ball on offense and controlled McQuaid Jesuit's senior attackman, Mitch Ritchie
(2a) on the offense. Ben Knapton played Ritchie one-on-one and stopped the
powerful attackman from scoring and on numerous occasions took the ball from
him one-on-one. "We knew he was a big player coming in. We kept up the pressure
so he couldn't get the ball and when he did we were on him hard. Everyone
played well and came together for the win," said Knapton after the game.
The Braves were helped great by goalie play. Senior, Scott Bement, demonstrated
why he is one of the strongest goalies in the section as he recorded 11s/3ga
(79%). McQuaid Jesuit's Dan Caufield also had a good day with 13s/12ga (52%) against
a number of strong shooters from Canandaigua.
The starting attack for the Braves shot 21 shots with 15 on cage (71%) while
the starting attack for the Knights shot 16 shots with 5 on cage (31%).
Scoring for Canandaigua were Henderson (4g-1a), Brian Scheetz (3g-2a), Tomzak
(2g-2a), Andrew Knoblauch (1g-1a), Will Johnson (1g), Tanner Scharr (1g) and
Nick Munn (1a).
Scoring for McQuaid Jesuit were Ritchie (2a), MacDonald (1g), Flanigan (1g) and
Wolak (1g).
For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full
statistics.
In the final game of the day, Livonia defeated Newark 11-7 in the opener for
both teams.
Livonia opened up with 8:24 remaining and again at 8:00 with goals by Tyler
Russell from Matt Girolmo and Mike Donals from Chris Bausch. Although Livonia
led the entire game, and kept over a two goal lead for most of it, the game
felt as though Newark was just a goal away from being in it. Newark fought
hard and never gave up, however, the Bulldogs were stronger and determined
not to let up.
Stephen Johnson scored the first goal for the Reds assisted by Colin Johnson.
Another Russell goal was followed by a goal from Colin Johnson. Overall it
was a close match-up with both teams showing their skill and potential. 
Sophomore middie, Jeff Wester, who led all scorers with 3g-4a, felt good
about the Bulldog effort. "We came out hard, and started the season with
a win. We prepared during the off season and are ready to go." The Bulldogs
look to new head coach Brett Wood for the guidance and leadership to try
to win their first GRALL Championship. Coach Wood has worked in the Livonia
program for a number of years and looks to this season, his first as Varsity
Head Coach, to bring about the title for Livonia.
Newark's Marc Minutolo demonstrated that a long-stick can be a FOGO as he won
14/20 including a number a key wins when the Reds needed the ball. Of the six
draws Minutolo lost three occurred in the first quarter (in fact the first
two face-offs) but once he got into the groove he stepped up and won for the
Reds.
With the exception of the first goal and the three goals in the third quarter,
Newark and Livonia traded goals for the entire game.
Scoring for Livonia were Wester (3g-4a), Girolmo (2g-3a), Russell (3g-1a),
Cameron Ross (1g), Aaron Miller (1g), Donals (1g) and Bausch (1a).
Scoring for Newark were Colin Johnson (2g-1a), Gonzales (2g-1a), Stephen Johnson
(1g), Matt Clemons (1g) and Chad Morrison (1g).
For
a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full
statistics. |
