Panthers Stay Unbeaten by Crushing Putnam Valley
Putnam Valley’s Kyle Bronzo.
By Monica D’Ippolito – After playing back-to-back one-goal games to start the season, the Pleasantville boys’ lacrosse team cruised to a comfortable 13-3 road victory against Putnam Valley on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a relief and I just feel good for some of the other guys who practice hard, get more time in games like this,” Panthers coach Chris Kear said after the game. “Sometimes it can be stressful with the one-goal games and it comes right down to the wire. You make one mistake, it could be a loss. So it’s nice to get a nice little cushion, a nice little lead, and you can walk away a little more comfortably.”
Despite the lopsided final score, Pleasantville held just a one-goal lead after the opening quarter. Hayden McBride got the Panthers on the board at the 10:21 mark, but it wasn’t until the second period when P’ville started separating itself from the host Tigers.
McBride helped aid the Panthers’ second goal, as he tried feeding Declan McDermott in front of the net. But the ball instead deflected off McDermott’s stick and snuck past Putnam Valley goalie Ryan Mello, giving the Panthers their second goal.
The Tigers cut the Pleasantville lead in half when Kyle Bronzo ripped a shot past Oscar Marchi at the 3:31 mark of the second quarter. Shortly after, though, Bryan Arcidiacono started off a four-goal run by the Panthers, cleaning up a loose ball in front of the Tigers’ net.
Josh Della Puca then assisted on back-to-back goals, first to Arcidiacono and then to Brian Reda 30 seconds later, giving Pleasantville a 5-1 lead. Arcidiacono, who led the Panthers with four goals and an assist, quickly added to the run by feeding Mike Hammond down the field for another score in a semi-transition 20 seconds later.
With 42 seconds remaining in the half, Bronzo ended the Panther run by scoring his second goal, cutting the Putnam Valley deficit to 6-2 at halftime.
“It wasn’t so much what we told them,” said Kear about the Panthers’ second- quarter blitz. “It was just we weren’t shooting smart. We knew this was a good goalie. We had to shoot smart on him, we couldn’t shoot from the outside. They were running a zone, so we just tweaked our zone offense a little bit, just made sure we had all the right looks at the right times. We wanted to work it into the crease and get the high-percentage shots and we started to have a little bit more success after that.”
The second half was dominated by the Panthers, who scored six unanswered goals in the third quarter. It took Putnam Valley more than half of the period to just get its first shot on goal. With goals by McBride, Jack Howe, Nolan McAndrew, Arcidiacono and two by Della Puca, the Panthers opened up a 12-2 advantage heading into the final 12 minutes of the game.
At 9:04, the Tigers’ Jacob DeMey finally broke up the Pleasantville run, scoring Putnam Valley’s third and final goal of the game. Arcidiacono provided his fourth goal of the afternoon two minutes later to conclude the game’s scoring.
“It’s great to start 3-0, it’s the momentum we wanted to start the season,” Kear said. “It’s a long season, but one win at a time. We knew this was a Class C opponent and we wanted to make sure we had a good game against them. We have some big games on the horizon, so it’s great to start off on a high note.”
In addition to the offense by Arcidiacono, Pleasantville got three goals from McBride, while Della Puca wound up with two goals and two assists. The Panthers outshot the Tigers 37-13 in the game and won the majority of the face-offs as well.
“We’ve been really working hard on that,” Kear said of draw controls. “Mike Hammond, who’s a junior, he’s worked extremely hard. He’s gotten so much better since last year and he’s been the key for our success in these close games. He won a few late draws in our Hen Hud game that sealed the victory for us. So I can’t say enough about him; he’s worked really hard and he’s been a huge part of our team.”
Marchi started the game in goal for the Panthers, recording three saves in the first two quarters, while Brandon Casey took over after halftime and finished with five saves.
“Defense has been a strength for us already this year,” said Kear. “We have two strong keepers. When our starter, Oscar, comes out and our sophomore, Brendan Casey, goes in, there isn’t much of a drop off. The defense has been solid so far this whole season and I think they’re really organized defensively. We do a good job taking away the other team’s strengths and that forces them to play with their weaknesses. As a team, we’ve done a good job with that.”
Pleasantville, now 3-0 after dramatic victories over Fox Lane and Hen Hud to start the season, is hoping another shot at the sectional title is in its future. After falling just short against Bronxville in the final a season ago, it seems like the Panthers are poised once again to contend for a championship.
“The goal is always to get back to sectionals and get to the section final,” Kear said. “We know what’s ahead of us and we know what we need to do. Like I said, it’s a long season. But right now, we have one goal and that’s to get back to the section final and win it this year.”
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