Stepinac Lacrosse Shows Cardinal Hayes the Exit
One year ago there were no playoffs games or wins for the varsity lacrosse game. In 2012, under the leadership of new coach James Goldmann and a plethora and assortment of talent athletes such as Spencer O’Toole, Andrew Murray, Bobby DiNapoli, Nick Shaw to just name a few, the Crusaders lacrosse program has won nine games in 2012 including its first round 14-2 victory over Cardinal Hayes on Saturday.
The Crusaders played Cardinal Hayes earlier in the season and were victorious, 13-0. Despite this tremendous effort by the entire Crusader team Goldmann wasn’t going to let his squad underestimate its first round opponent in the playoffs.
“It’s the playoffs. When it’s playoffs you have to take anybody seriously because if you lose you’re done. You have to make sure you stay focused and that the kids are doing the right thing,” said Goldmann about prepping his team for Saturday’s game.
On Saturday there would be no let down or let up from the Crusaders, playing on a hot sunny day on their home turf. They got the lead early and continued to build on it to advance to the second round of the playoffs. They will play at home on Tuesday against an opponent to be determined. The Crusaders ran off 10 straight goals before Cardinal Hayes put their first shot of the afternoon in the cage at the 2:05 mark in the second quarter.
O’Toole scored the first goal of the game for the Crusaders. Dom Vallario scored the next two goals on assists from Murray. Christian Lopez’s first goal of the game made it 4-0. The next four goals were scored by O’Toole, Murray, Lopez and Vallario; that took the Crusaders advantage to 8-0
They just couldn’t stop scoring in the first half. The Crusaders’ final three goals of the first half were scored by Vallario, Robert Gray and Murray.
In the second half the Crusaders had several shots blocked by the Cardinal Hayes goaltender, who easily saved another five goals in the quarter alone. The Crusaders final three goals of the game were scored by Gray (two) and Shaw.
After the Cardinal Hayes game Goldmann gave credit to his team effort versus league powerhouse Iona Prep as being a positive factor coming into the playoffs, though they dropped the last two games of the regular season to Iona.
“We played pretty well in the second half of the last game versus Iona. We outscored them 9-4 in the second half. Whenever you can put up 10 against Iona you feel good about yourselves,” said Goldmann about Thursday’s 18-10 loss to Iona.
White Plains
The lacrosse season for the White Plains Tigers boy’s team came to end on Friday at home in the first round of the sectional tournament, as they lost 8-5 to Mamaroneck. This is a tough loss for the Tigers on many levels. Mamaroneck is a league rival and they beat them both times they played each other during the regular season.
The Tigers goals were score by Drew Ahlers (three), Gary Pace and Eric Davis.
White Plains Girls Lacrosse
The postseason began on Thursday for the Tigers when they played host to Wappingers Central School District. The Tigers took a lead at halftime and were able to hold on in the second half to win by the score of 12-8. Kate Leone, the team’s leading scorer, fired five shots to the back of the cage on Thursday. Hannah Ward, Shannon Lynch and Lauren Sharpe were also major contributors to the victory scoring two goals apiece. Tess D’Arcy also added a goal and Olivia Bellantoni had two assists in the game. Goaltender Kelsey Fee record 12 saves in the win.
Their second round game was a totally different story when played the Lakeland/Panas Rebels. The Rebels are the No. 1 seed in the Sectional Tournament and don’t be surprised if this team makes a strong run at the state championship. They ended up beating the Tigers 19-7 on Saturday afternoon. The Tiger goals were score by: Leone (two), Ward (two), Sharpe, Alyssa Habermann and MaryClare O’Meara.
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