| 2007 ESG Wrap-up |
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The Tournament is complete. Long Island won
their fourteenth Gold medal (third in a row) losing only to Hudson Valley (in
overtime) on the last day. Central took the Silver medal and Western took
the bronze.
The Winners:
The Empire State Games, in its 30th year, has a
long history and is the oldest and largest of the “State
Games” in the country. Men’s lacrosse
was started in 1984, with the Central Region winning
the gold, Long Island the silver and Western, the
bronze. This year the games were held in Westchester County, in
the Hudson Valley region.
In those twenty-four years, Long Island
has won the gold 14 times, Central 7 times, Hudson
Valley twice and Western once, so it is not surprising
that “The Island” would be the expected
forerunner for the 2007 games.
Before The Games:
In the 2006 games, "Superstars" were in abundance, particularly on
the Long Island team where the Bratton brothers, goalie Adam Ghitelman and
attackmen Dean Gibbons, among others were already highly recruited division one
prospects. This year, there were relatively few such players on any team, so
that there was a feeling that although Long island was the favorite, other teams
might have a chance.
The Long Island Team brought twenty new players to the tournament this year,
with nineteen beginning their senior year this fall. The lone exception was
Manhasset's junior attackman Connor English. While last year, the offense
focused on the Bratton brothers at midfield, this year's team featured a
strong attack with Jeff Cohen (Syosset), John Conneely (HH Hills West) and Tom
Palasek (Rock Point) all proven attackmen.
Cohen, who was named an All-American during
the regular season, scored 94 goals last spring. Conneely, a three sport
athlete, had 44 goals during the regular season while Palasek adds his feeding
skills after finishing his season with 54 goals and 75 assists.
Even with
a strong attack there were midfielders to support them including Matthew
Cannone (Bethpage), Anthony Biscardi (Wantagh), Francis McDonough (Garden
City) and Brian Smalley (Smithtown West). The Long Island team, having lost
Adam Ghitelman from last summer, came into the 2007 games with Ward Melville's
Steven Rastivo and Smithtown East's John Carrol in the cage.
Central came into the 2007 games with a number of talented players spread
between the attack, midfield, defense and in the cage. Returning from the
2006 team were midfielders John Greely (LaFayette) and Tim Rommel (Henninger).
Joining them were Ryan Barber and Luke Cometti, both from West Genesee, and
Steve Ianztio (CNS). Mike Fetterly (West Genesee) was expected to lead the
attack, with Zac Guy (LaFayette) joining him. Goalies AJ Fiore (Ithaca) and
Jordan Marra (Baldwinsville) both came off successful seasons.
After last years amazingly strong defense, this year’s Western team
was expected to be led by the attack. Returning from the 2006 roster was
Cade Norris (HFL) in the midfield and Alex Nowak (Penfield) in the defense.
Casey Rich (Amherst), Matt Pierotti (Corning East), Joe Resetarits (Hamburg)
and Connor Henderson (Canandaigua) were all major players in their home teams
in the 2007 season and were expected bring a strong offensive presence to
the Western team. Joining Norris in the midfield were three Orchard Park
players (Jeff Tundo, Matthew Ferrino and Kevin Lalley) along with Kyle VanThof
(Penfield) and Marshall Johnson (Canandaigua). In the cage were Scott Bement
(Canandaigua) and Jonathon Lawless (St. Francis). Bement finished the 2007
regular season with 68% and the 2nd highest save percentage in all of Section
V.
Adirondack was at the bottom of the barrel last year in nearly all the
categories and finished the games with a 0-5 record. This year's team brought
together many players who worked together throughout the regular season
as six players from Niskayuna, three from Saratoga Springs and Guilderland
as well as two from CBA and Canton were selected for the team.
ADK also
returned their leading scorer from the 2006 ESG roster in midfielder Sam
Bradman (Canton) who had 4 goals and 3 assists last year. Bradman was joined
in the midfield by Daniel McKinney (Niskayuna) and Aaron Lupa (Schenectady).
Lupa had an exceptional 2007 regular season scoring 62 goals and 27 assists.
Steven D'Amario (Niskayuna), who will be joined by Chris Adams and Matt
Crimmins, both of Saratoga Springs was expected to lead the attack.
The
defense for Adirondack consists of three players from Niskayuna (Steve
Abba, Ryan Alden and Paul Sapia) as well as two players named to the 2nd
team Suburban Council in Chris Gavitt (Columbia) and Kip Stillman (Guilderland).
In the cage Adirondacks selected Saratoga Springs back-up goalie Ian O’Brien
(17 saves) and Pat Sweeney (Canton). Sweeney recorded 108 saves (62.4%)
last spring.
Brewster defenseman Zach Badalucco is the lone player returning to the
2007 Hudson Valley roster. Chris Bocklet (John Jay’s leading scorer)
who was probably the best senior-to-be in the area, and who played for
the 2006 team, did not try out this year, electing instead to try out for
the U-19 World team. Kevin Drew, a 6-2 midfielder, also from John Jay,
hurt his wrist and withdrew during tryouts. (Bocklett turned his ankle
in football practice and had to withdraw from the U-19 tryout).
Replacing last years attack was
Joe Marasco (Somers), Shane Ferguson (Mamaroneck), Scott Morell (Westwinster)
and Matt King (Brewster). Midfielders Kevin Gordon (Rye) and Rocky Bonitatibus
(Yorktown) were expected to be important players for this year’s team.
In the cage Chris Latino came off a loss in the State finals to JD but had
a 63% season for John Jay. Joining Latino was Michael Bonitatibus (Yorktown).
As usual, it was hard to evaluate the New York City team before
the games as many players come from teams that get little or no State and
National attention and in many cases it can be difficult to even identify
what team they come from.
Exactly half of the roster were returning players;
Scott Margolis (Riverdale), Forest Sonnenfeldt (Fieldston), Julian Musikant
(Riverdale), Lanius Baxter (Lawrenceville), Ross Lovern (Trinity), Alex Douglas
(Hotchkiss), Michael Brockway (Poly Prep) and Ben Feldberg (Dwight-Englewood).
Returning for their third season were Anthony Adler and Max Van Bourgondien,
both of Lawrenceville.
Performance (Offense):
Long Island won the gold with a 4-1 record, beating each of the other regions
except Hudson Valley, who won in overtime on the last game of the tournament
and after Long Island had already won the gold medal on Saturday.
The statistical data suggests that although Long Island was the winner, there
was far more parity this year than in 2007 when Long Island outscored the
field by more than twenty goals. This year, the winners had only eleven more
goals than second place, Central, but scored them with fewer shots. Western,
Adirondack and Hudson Valley each had about the same number of goals (37
to 33) while NYC scored 27.
Long Island was 5th in assisted goals, recording only 38% from feeds. Leading
scorer, Jeff Cohen (13g) along with John Conneely (6g) and Connor English
(4g) combined for 16 assisted goals (16 or 23 = 70%), but other top Long
Island scorer including Matthew Cannone (5g), Francis McDonough (7g), Tom
Palasek (7g) and Brian Smalley (5g) had only four assisted goals (17%).
The mix of single dimensional offensive ("drive and shoot") which sometimes
was successful and other times led to the loss of the ball, with more
team oriented offense ("give and go" and "double and dish"). This made
for some exciting moments and also explains, to some extent, the appearance
of some "hot and cold" runs by Long Island.
Central, like Long Island won their first three games, making their head-to-head
game on Saturday the gold medal game. The first quarter was close, with
LI taking a 3-2 lead. In the last three quarters, Long Island took control
outscoring Central 9-5. Central went on to win their Sunday game (8-7 over
ADK), finishing with a record of 4-1, like LI, but the first tie-breaker
criteria is head-to-head and so, with their win on Sunday, they earned
the Silver medal.
Statistically, Central certainly looked like a top two team, scoring second
in goals, and first in assists, ground balls, and shots on cage, among
the six regions. Playing a team offense in which 66% of their goals were
assisted, Central saw goals or assists from 13 of their 20 players. Leading
the effort was Mike Fetterly (14g-1a), Rob Grimm (9g-8a) and Zac Guy (7g-4a).
Guy scored on all seven of his shots on goal.
Western, who finished at 3-2 with both losses on "double session" Friday
when they lost to both Long Island (13-4) and Central (11-8) won
the bronze medal with the third best record.
Western led
the regions in assisted goals (25/37=66%). While twelve different players
made the scorebook, the Leader was Joe Resetarits with 10g-4a who ended
the tournament in the number 3 spot for goals. Also leading the scoring
for Western were Matt Pierotti with 6g-5a, Casey Rich with 5g-2a and Connor
Henderson with 5g.
|
| OFFENSE |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
| Goals |
LI
- 61 |
CN-50 |
WN-37 |
AD-36 |
HV-33 |
NY-27 |
| Shots Taken |
CN-172 |
LI-154 |
AD-154 |
HV-144 |
WN-108 |
NY-107 |
| % Shots On |
LI-67% |
NY-61% |
CN-58% |
W-57% |
HV-57% |
AD-50% |
| Asst. Gls % |
W-68% |
CN-66% |
AD-44% |
NY-41% |
LI-38% |
HV-36% |
| |
| Ground Balls |
CN-155 |
HV-151 |
WN-129 |
NY-127 |
LI
- 123 |
AD-102 |
|
Hudson Valley had high hopes for the tournament, despite missing standouts
Drew and Bocklet
who elected not to tryout this summer.
They suffered early losses to Central (11-6) and Adirondack (10-5). The offense
struggled, placing 5th in both goals and assists produced. The team scored
33 goals, 12 of which were assisted. Joe Marasco (9g-3a), Rocky Bonitatibus
(7g-0a) and Scott Morell (7g-2a), accounted for seventy percent of the scoring.
Only six of the 23 goal were assisted, so that the drive and shoot offense
was less successful against strong defensive teams.
One high note for "the Valley" was the face-off efforts of Tyler Granelli
who won 40 of 63 (64%). The best moment, however, was when Morell received
a feed from Granelli in
overtime to give Hudson Valley a 10-9 win over previously undefeated Long
Island.
Adirondack saw thirteen different players make the scorebook in their 2-3
run in the tournament. Leading the effort were Matthew Crummins (8g), Steven
D'Amario (6g-5a), Sam Bradman (6g-4a) and Dan McKinney (5g). Ryan Quinn was
a 57% winner (43 wins/32 losses) at the face-off.
Adirondack's 10-5 win over
Hudson Valley on Friday was a highlight for the
team. They saw
more big performances from Quinn at face-off as well as Ian O’Brien
in the cage and were excited that 7/10 of their goals came from midfielders.
Although New York City was disappointed in their 0-5 record, as one opposing
fan said, "New York City is no longer a push-over and you can't just expect
to win that game." There has been great improvement in the last two years
and in this tournament they played closely (for a while) in each game. NYC
was up 5-3 at the half against Central and 6-4 after the three quarters in
their game against Hudson Valley. Scott Margolis and Forest Sonnenfeldt each
scored 6g-1a, Max Van Bourgondien added 5g-2a and Anthony Adler scored 3g-6a.
Performance (Defense):
Unlike last year, where the statistics clearly picked the defensive winners,
this year, the statistics are more closely arranged. Long Island did stand
out in goals against, with ten less then Central.
Long Island allowed 5.9 goals on average as compared to Central, who allowed
8.0 on average, but Western also ended with 8.0 gaa and Hudson Valley ended
with 8.3. NYC, who took last place in gaa (9.6) was not that far from the
pack.
John Carroll (Long Island) led the goalie performances with 23 saves on 36
shots on (64%) and Jordan Marra (Central) was second with 25 saves on 40
shots on cage (63%) although he played less time in the cage than his teammate,
AJ Fiore who had 26 saves on 51 shots (51%). Marra did not play in the Central
- Long Island games where Fiore finished at 43%. Western played most of the
tournament with Scott Bement who finished with 19 saves on 51 shots (37%) and
might have wanted to try a little more time with Jonathon Lawless who ended
with 8 saves (50%), but who only played in two games.
As much trouble as Western had in the goal, they topped the list in clearing,
at 85% while Long Island (81%) and Central (78%) followed. Western also topped
the list for the number of shots on the the cage allowed (67 shots) with Long
Island just one shot behind. It is clear that Western's defensive players kept
the ball away from the goal, but the goalies had trouble stopping those shots
that got through.
NYC faced more than 50% more shots on cage than Western and Long Island,
and although Ben Feldberg (55%) and Michael Brockway (54%) were in the top
half of goalie performances (4th and 5th), volume means goals in the tournament.
NYC spent quite a bit of time in transition, which made it hard on the midfielders
who had to run up and down the field in hot weather and resulted in more
ball time in front of their goalies.
|
| DEFENSE |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
| Gls Against |
LI-30 |
CN-40 |
WN-40 |
HV-42 |
AD-45 |
NY-47 |
| Save % |
CN-56% |
LI-56% |
NY-54% |
CN-51% |
HV-48% |
W-40% |
| GA Average |
LI-5.9 |
CN-8.0 |
WN-8.0 |
HV-8.3 |
AD-9.0 |
NY-9.6 |
| Clearing % |
W-83% |
LI-81% |
CN-78% |
HV-76% |
AD-74% |
NY-72% |
| Son Against |
WN-67 |
LI-68 |
HV-80 |
AD-91 |
CN-91 |
NY-105 |
|
Special Teams:
There was far more disparity in the special teams stats this year. New York
City topped the Extra Man Offense stat,scoring on 28% of their man up opportunities.
Long Island was right behind with 27%, but had many more opportunities as NYC
scored 7 goals on 18 tries and Long Island scored 13 on 35. Central scored on
just under a quarter of their man up opportunities (22%), while Western and
Adirondack were at 14%. Hudson Valley produced just 2 man up goals (on 19 tries).
On the defensive end of the field, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Central and NYC
were all grouped between 84% and 81% in man down defense. Western came in at
78% and Adirondack finished at 57%. Long Island was "king of the penalties", receiving
37, while Adirondack, on the other end other scale, received only 9. The rest
of the teams received between 28 and 30.
Long Island's stand out attackman, Jeff Cohen was ejected from the Western game
and had to sit out of the Adirondack game as a result. His ejection was required
after he received a second unsportsmanlike penalty for challenging an official
who missed seeing a Western player hit a Long Island player with a butt end
to the groin. That being said, Cohen led the tournament in penalties with 9
and penalty time with 10:00. It should also be noted that this is the second
year in a row that Long Island has had an All-American ejected for talking to
the officials. Last year it was Rhamel Bratton.
Mike Poppleton was the top face off man in the tournament, recording 53 wins
(67%) for Central. While Tyler Granelli placed 4th on the number of wins, his 64%
helped Hudson Valley take second in team face offs (59). Long Island's Zach
Pall had 50 wins (51%) and Adirondack's Ryan Quinn won 43 (57%). It was interesting
to note that 21 of 53 wins for ADK came from wins by technical. (They only lost
2 by technical). Western, on the other hand lost 25 of 54 by
technical. They won only 5 by technical.
|
| SPECIAL TEAMS |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
| MU Goals % |
NY-39% |
LI-27% |
C-22% |
W-14% |
AD-14% |
HV-10% |
| MD GA % |
LI-83% |
HV-83% |
C-81% |
NY-81% |
W-78% |
AD-57% |
| FO WIN % |
C-63% |
HV-59% |
A-55% |
LI-51% |
W-41% |
NY-32% |
|
Observations:
There are very few comments that need to be made this year, as the scores
pretty much speak for themselves. Long Island was clearly the gold medal
winner, although they could have made it complete by going undefeated, and
there will continue to be questions as to whether Hudson Valley really played
up for the last game, or whether Long Island didn't take the game seriously
after winning the gold the night before. Either way, it was, however, a well
played game by Hudson Valley, and credit goes to their players and coaches.
It was a great way for an otherwise disappointed host team to end the tournament.
Central clearly earned the Silver, on the basis of their record and their
head-to-head loss to Long Island. Western certainly had a tougher schedule
than Central when they faced Long Island and Central only hours apart on
a hot double session Friday. Central played NYC in game one (9am) and then
played Western in game 5 (4:45) whereas Western played Long Island at 1pm
and Central at 4:45pm.
Central played good team ball and used most of the bench in their efforts.
Thirteen of their twenty players made the scorebook and two-thirds of their
goals were assisted. Mike Fetterly (14g-1a) was the top man on the tournament
Leader Board for goals and placed second in points. Rob Grimm was the top
man in points and assists (9g-8a). Zac Guy (7g-4a) scored
on all seven of his shots on goal.
Western won the bronze by record (3-2).
The 2007 games lacked the numerous, well known superstars that punctuated
the previous year's games but there were great plays, exciting moments and,
in general, closer matched games this year.
Hudson Valley clearly missed Kevin Drew and Chris Bocklet who would have
made them far more competitive. New York City continued to bring together
better skilled players who play better team ball each year. Western continued
to earn a medal on the basis of talent, a great deal of which, this year,
came from outside the Rochester area and was led by Joe Resetarits (10g-4a).
The Iona campus venue was beautiful. Mazzella Field is located in the middle
of the campus and is surrounded by buildings. The site was not without issues,
however, as the lack of lights on the field required shortening the 7:00
pm games, playing 11:00 minute quarters and required starting the Friday
games earlier. Black lines (which were at times hard to see) needed to be
painted on the field several days before the game started, as Iona plays
women's but not men's lacrosse. The staff at Iona were incredibly hospitable
and went out of their way to be helpful to everyone.
That ends the review of the 2007 Empire State Lacrosse games. It was, as usual,
an exciting time for the players, coaches and fans and well worth the effort
that the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation puts into this annual
extravaganza.
To
see all of the ESG reports and stories, click here.
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