Carmel Taking Aim; P’Ville Rallies to Defeat Haldane

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

By the time we get to late May, when the sectional playoffs begin, there’s a good chance some team might come out of nowhere to shock and awe us with an unexpected run to the Final 4 in their respective classifications. But, when it comes to Section 1 lacrosse, we can usually make an earlier determination as to who will be in and who will be on the outside looking in.

Class A lax is the outlier: Two-time defending champion Scarsdale is down by its lofty standards; Mamaroneck might be the early favorite, but CARMEL (6-1) is gaining some serious attention, which is hard to overlook. North Rockland and Suffern, which has some history on its side, are vying for position, as in White Plains and Arlington, so Class A boils down to the usual suspects – Mamo and Scarsdale – and everyone else looking to make a move. Might Carmel have it in them?

Carmel has the lone blemish against Greeley – a 15-7 loss – that makes it tough to process the Rams making a run to the Class A finals, but if there was ever a year to do so it’s now. Carmel Coach Matt Caione – the former Yorktown and Syracuse All-American – has back-filled the schedule with some tough challenges, including John Jay CR, Mahopac, Yorktown and Greenwich (CT), so that slate of games should have the Rams prepped for the playoffs.

Before stepping up the level of competition, the Rams took care of business in a 17-4 win over Arlington and an 11-5 win over Blind Brook last week.

Against Arlington, the Rams’ Big 4 went off, including Adam Boeheim (4G, 1A), Thomas Connolly (6G, 2A), Matt Risley (4G, 2A) and Ryan Aabel (7A). G Jake Meissner made 15 saves between the pipes.

Against Blind Brook, Connolly (5G, 1A), Risley (2G, 5A), Aabel (1G, 3A) were all prime contributors for the Rams, who have their best chance ever at making the finals.

Currently the No.2 seed, there is rampant optimism that Carmel might be Putnam County’s finest club this spring and the Wolf Pac will seek to prove otherwise on May 10 when the Rams pay a visit to Mahopac, but Haldane wasn’t going to be easy in last night’s Putnam County showdown. For all its offensive firepower, Carmel’s success will likely be determined by its back end.

In other Class A action, WHITE PLAINS nipped Wappingers, 7-5 behind five goals from Ricky Strobel, who was clearly in sync with Christian Biondi (4A). G Brendan Kavanagh made 10 saves for the Tigers (3-3), the current No.6 seed, while Tyler Tan won 9 of 11 faceoffs.

CLASS B

Just like Carmel has back-loaded its schedule, previously undefeated SOMERS has done similarly and put its reputation on the line in a 14-9 loss to Long Island powerhouse South Side Saturday. A mix of Greeley, John Jay CR, Rye and Pleasantville will be sprinkled in over the final two weeks of the regular season, ensuring the Tuskers are ready for what some are calling a three-horse race between the Tuskers (currently the No.1 seed), No.2 YORKTOWN and No.3 GREELEY.

LAKELAND/PANAS looked like it might make for a fourth horse in the race in the Rebels’ 10-5 loss to Somers last Tuesday.

“The ceiling for this group is as high as any team I’ve coached since I started as an assistant over a decade ago,” L/P Coach Joseph Macchi said. “We’ve played some of the best offenses in the region and shown that our defense can be elite. If they can continue to play at that level, then we can expect to be in a position to win every game. How far we go will be determined on if we can put together a full 48 minutes, both offensively and defensively. If we can start to do that consistently, then there is no goal too lofty for this group. I’m excited to see what we can do as we enter the second half of this season.”

The Rebels (2-4) possessed for long stretches but dug a 5-0 hole until L/P’s Kyle Gallagher completed a four-goal surge with 2:48 to go in the third to make it 5-4. Miguel Iglesias (4G, 1) and Mason Kelly stole back momentum and made it 7-4 Tuskers, early in the fourth. Lakeland/Panas trimmed the deficit to two when Michael Ahlstedt scored, but the Tuskers closed on a 3-0 run to seal the deal. Ryan Brush (2G, 1A), Mac Sullivan (2A), Grayden Carr (1G), Dean Palozzolo (1G) and Matt Mayfield (1G, 15/18 FO) were all in on the scoring act while G Landon Pepe made 10 saves.

Gallagher and Ahlstedt each had two goals for the Rebels while Bubba Baumiester and Riley Sand had an assist.

Yorktown is struggling against the powers that be in CT, including Darien (No.6 Northeast ranking by USA Lax), which took an 18-7 knockout from the Huskers (5-3), and Wilton, which held onto the Turnbull Cup in an 7-6 win Saturday. The Huskers have a plan in place, which includes taking on the upper crust of the east coast as they seek their 42nd Section 1 title. They will be tough to prevent from doing so, but somehow, some way Somers, Greeley and Yorktown are looking to avoid each other in the sectional semis, depending on how the seeds shake out.

Greeley (5-2) put itself to the test in a 13-11 loss to Greenwich last Tuesday when Matthew Byrne (4G, 2A), Jameson Blakeslee (2G, 1A), Jack Holub (1G, 1A) and Tighe Dolan (1G, 1A) put up points in front of G Toby Moskow (14 saves). Truly interested to see what happens on May 2nd when the Quakers host Somers with pivotal seeds on the line.

FOX LANE romped OSSINING, 9-0, and moved up to No.5 in class, doing so behind a hat trick from Tyler Davidson and two goals apiece from Ryan Nathan and John Mains as the Foxes (6-2) brace for rival Greeley this week. BREWSTER ended a three-game skid and MAHOPAC (0-7) is having a very rough go of it. The youthful Wolf Pac, who haven’t started this poorly before, are searching for their first win. Through it all, Mahopac senior captain Danny Koch (4G, 1A), who scored five points in an 11-7 loss to Byram Hills, is set to score his 100th career goal and needed just eight points to move up to No.6 on the all-time Mahopac scoring list. St. John’s is, indeed, getting a gem.

Brewster took a 9-6 decision from Clarkstown North on the strength of a balanced attack, including Harrison Schmitt (2G), Luke Cunningham (2G, 3A), Jason Weller (1G, 2A), Paul Rienzi (1G, 2A, 80% FO wins) and AJ Accurso (3G) as the Bears improved to 4-5.

 

CLASS D

Visiting HALDANE put up quite the fight in a 16-10 loss to PLEASANTVILLE, which was a bunch closer than it looked Thursday when it was 5-4 P’Ville early in the second before the Panthers (6-1) put some distance between the two, taking a 9-4 lead by 8:53 of the second. Before you knew it, Coach Chris Kear’s Panthers were up 13-7 at 1:40 of the third quarter and 14-7 at the end. Haldane (2-5) responded with three unanswered goals to make it 14-10 at 7:16 of the fourth before the Panthers up 15-10 at 6:15.

Coach Kear wasn’t totally thrilled with the effort and knows there’s work to do.

“I think most aspects of our game are about on par with where we thought we’d be at this point,” Pleasantville Coach Chris Kear said. “One area that is plaguing us a little is our shooting efficiency. We are generating a huge volume of shots but not converting all the chances that we think we should. One other area is slow starts. Our first quarters this season haven’t been impressive, we always bounce back in the 2nd quarter and usually play the way we should but for whatever reason it takes us at least twelve minutes of game time to get in gear.”

Hank McCourtney (1g, 4a), Nick Reich (5g), Emmet McDermott (2g,1a), Daniel Picart (4g, 2a) and Erik Coleman (3 goals) all had multi-point efforts for the Panthers.

Liam Gaugler (2g), Evan Gianchinta (2g), Fallon Faye (2g), Ryan Van Tassel (1g), Dylan Rucker (1g), PG Ruggerio (1g, 1a), Brody Corless (1a) and Jordan Hankel (1g) found the stat sheet for the Blue Devils. The goalies were busy Andrew Nessel (11 saves) and Hankel (23).

Plesantville tacked on another win in Saturday’s 9-6 triumph of Kellenberg Memorial, who had no answers for Picart (6g, 1a) while Nessel (7 saves) and the Panther defense more than held their own.

Don’t look now but unbeaten WESTLAKE (7-0) is the current No.1 seed in Class D. Granted, the Wildcats have not faced the toughest schedule in Section 1 but Dobbs Ferry, Putnam Valley and Haldane should provide a tougher test than BRIARCLIFF did in a 14-5 Westlake win.

Wildcats Chris Kalle (5G, 1A), Stephen DiNapoli (3G, 3A), Cole Barnett (2G, 2A), Chase Sorby (4A),  Isaiah Rivera (1G), Nicky DiNapoli (1G), Dean Dable (1G, 14/20 at the X) and Luca Piazza (1G) all tickled twine.

“It was an awesome job by the entire defensive unit,” Westlake Coach Mark Castellano exclaimed!

Shane Dean (2G, 1A) and Harrison Winger (2G) scored for the Bears.

The Wildcats also bested Blind Brook, 14-8, when Cole Barnett (5G), Kalle (3G, 1A),  Nicholas DiNapoli (3G, 1A), Sorby (1G, 3A) and Stephen DiNapoli (4A) all had multi-point efforts.

CROTON and PUTNAM VALLEY had an instant classic when M Sean Grimes (2G, 2A) won the faceoff with 16.4 seconds to go, and pushed to Gavin Cunningham who beat the buzzer to give Croton its fourth consecutive win, 12-11, over PV. Put Valley had little answers for Liam Doherty (5G) and Grimes, who won 20 of 25 in the draw box. Bryce Laemmel (2G, 2A) was also a problem for PV. Thomas Cunningham (2G, 2A), Andre Tarrant (2G, 1A) and Caden Clenn (2G) did all they could to keep the Tigers (5-3) in the game.

“Our culture has grown stronger, and the mix of veterans and new guys makes for an exciting dynamic,” Croton Coach Dustin Schmidt said. “Team chemistry is developing on both sides of the field, but there is still a lot that we need to learn and improve on.”

Eighth-grader Liam Doherty is one of those rookies that has Schmidt stoked about the future, after potting five goals against the PV defense.

Croton junior G Robby DeLasho led the defense with nine saves, including some huge stops down the stretch. Defensively, the Tigers came up with some big stops from defensemen Jacob Jones, John Clerkin, Alex More, and Aidan Nikic.

Croton also posted a 15-4 win over Brewster, who could not stop Laemmel (3g, 2a), Cunningham (4g, 1a), Grimes (1g, 1a 19/20 faceoffs), Doherty (2g, 1a) Luca Camillieri  (2g) and

Teddy Neville (1g, 1a).

“We were led by a heroic defensive effort by senior John Clerkin, junior Alex More, senior Aidan Nickic and Robby DeLasho,” Schmidt said. “Croton gave up the first goal of the game, and proceeded to go on a 13-1 scoring spree where everyone chipped in.

Putnam Valley managed a 19-6 win over North Salem. Dakota Bourgie (5G, 5A), Michael Frye (5G, 1A), Glenn (4G) and Andrew Grippo (2G, 5A) dominated the action.

CLASS C

After taking one on the chin against Somers, HEN HUD has won three straight to improve to 4-2. We’d still expect to see defending champion Rye and John Jay CR in the finals, but there’s no reason the Sailors and BYRAM HILLS (4-3) can’t challenge for a spot in the semis. The Bobcats, winners of three straight, are showing some encouraging signs after a rough start.

 

ANDY JACOBS/DAVID TABER/CHRIS SMAJLAJ