Briarcliff Pulls Away in the Second Half to Rout the Tigers
Defense has been the name of the game for the Briarcliff boys’ lacrosse team over the past couple of years. It took the Bears all the way to the Section One, Class C championship game a year ago and, according to head coach Al Meola, will probably determine whether they can make another appearance in the final a month from now.
“We’re definitely a defensive-minded team,” he was saying late Saturday afternoon, shortly after his Bears had kept Putnam Valley off the scoreboard in both the second and third quarters. “We are an all-defense-first program. That’s all we talk about and work on it every single day.”
The visiting Tigers got a good glimpse of Briarcliff’s stinginess on the defensive end of the field right after tying the Bears at 2-2 late in the first quarter. Putnam Valley was held scoreless for more than 34 minutes and wound up yielding eight consecutive goals on the way to a 10-4 loss. Peter Olson scored four goals and assisted on three others as the Bears stretched their modest winning streak to three games and improved to 6-2 this season.
“We’re still trying to find our identity,” said Meola. “Today we broke out a little bit on offense, which was kind of nice. The boys needed that. We’re trying to find that happy medium, get that balance between both sides of the ball.”
Facing a Put Valley team that entered the game with a .500 record, the Bears jumped ahead just over three minutes in as Zach Vincent, who finished with three goals and two assists, picked up a loose ball and quickly fired a shot into the back of the net. Just 54 seconds later, though, the Tigers evened the contest with a goal from Joey Van de Veerdonk.
The Bears regained the lead with 5:02 remaining in the opening quarter as Cam Fash, on a break, found an open Olson running ahead of him and the senior attackman easily deposited the ball into the cage. But for the second straight time after a Briarcliff goal, the Tigers won the ensuing faceoff and converted to tie the game.
“That was just defense coming out flat today,” said Meola about the two first-quarter goals by Putnam Valley. “Pretty uncommon for them. But they’re human and they came out really flat. They weren’t pinching in. Putnam Valley got some great looks inside. Hats off to them. They played really well. They came in with a great game plan against us.”
But the goal by Charlie Broas with 3:26 left in the period turned out to be the last hurrah from the Tigers. With 1:08 left in the first quarter, Fash gave Briarcliff the lead for good, drilling a shot that seemed to be stopped at first but wound up trickling into the cage. Just 31 seconds later, another shot from Fash beat Tigers goalie Travis Anderson, enabling the Bears to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.
After six goals by the two teams in the first period, the second quarter turned into a defensive struggle. The Bears failed to build on their lead and walked off the field at halftime still ahead by a 4-2 margin.
“They had a nice zone, too, a real compact zone,” said Meola about the Tigers. “We were all frustrated a little bit. So we had to change up our offense a little and just work on our zone offense. Find the right seams and try to move it quickly. That zone, they did a nice job.”
Meola wouldn’t have expected anything less from Putnam Valley under the tutelage of veteran Tim Weir, a coach he once upon a time played for as a member of the Lakeland/Panas Rebels.
“A great coach. I have a high admiration for him,” said Meola. “So I knew it was gonna be a tough game. It wasn’t gonna be easy, for sure.”
The third quarter proceeded the way the second had until the Bears finally broke through late in the period. Olson converted for his second goal of the day with 93 seconds left in the quarter after taking a pass from Vincent, who was behind the cage. Then with only seven seconds to go, Vincent raced straight down the middle for another goal after a Briarcliff takeaway near midfield.
With a 6-2 cushion heading to the final quarter, the Bears quickly turned the game into a rout, scoring three times in the first four minutes of the period. Vincent started the offensive flurry with his third goal of the game two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter. Spencer Rockmore and Olson soon scored 16 seconds apart as Briarcliff’s lead stretched to 9-2 with 8:10 left on the clock.
Nearly midway through the quarter, Olson provided the Bears’ last goal of the day, skimming a shot along the turf past the Tigers’ Anderson. Putnam Valley managed to score a pair of too little and too late goals in the game’s final minutes to make the final score a bit more respectable.
“Obviously the sectional title, getting back to that game, is a huge goal for us this year,” said Meola, whose team may be forced to play the rest of the way minus two of its top midfielders. Noah Benson is definitely through for the season after breaking his thumb and Matt Waterhouse, just an eighth-grader, remains questionable after rolling his ankle.
So Meola has had to do some midseason improvising in their absence.
“We’ve played our last two games without our first-line middies, except Cam Fash,” he said. “So the boys are stepping up. That’s really nice to see.”
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
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