While West Windsor-Plainsboro lacrosse teams, both boys and girls, are usually some of the top teams in the area, the 2005 season has shown them to be mortal.##M:[more]## But two of them — South boys and North girls — still are in line for the playoffs. For the others, it’s wait ‘til next year.
North Girls. After starting out the season 0-3, the North girls lacrosse team has crawled back into respectability with a 8-6 record. After compiling a 13-3 record in 2004, the team lost 11 seniors to graduation — including seven starters. The 2005 Knights are finding the wins coming a bit tougher.
But one of the big reasons why Coach Beth Mitchell’s team is still competitive is senior Shannon Bulk, one of the area’s top scorers. Bulk has reached the 60 point plateau, scoring 46 goals and adding 12 assists (she scored 17 goals all last year).
In an opening season 19-15 loss to Lawrenceville — the area’s top ranked team — Bulk slammed in eight goals. In a 12-6 win over High School South on April 14, she scored five goals while junior attack Kate Lalli scored four. In a 17-0 shellacking of Rancocas Valley on April 11, Bulk scored a four goals, and had three assists. In the 15-10 win over North Hunterdon on May 9, her five goals provided the margin of victory.
A resident of Plainsboro since the third grade, Bulk’s family owns Bulk Garden Center Nursery on Cranbury Neck Road. She has a younger brother and sister. Bulk will likely play lacrosse next season at UMass.
With two regular season games left, the Knights are hoping to buoy themselves deep into the state playoffs. Senior goalie Christine Su has been the backbone of North’s defense all season and Lalli (with 43 goals and eight assists) continues to be the second best scorer on the team. Senior midfielder Nicole Forant and senior attacks Megan Castellano and Jenna Leibowitz have added timely scores. Defensive players Jaclyn Orloff and Lauren Lam have also been effective two-way players.
Just how far the Knights have improved this season was made evident on May 5 in a 19-11 victory over Hun. North’s defense played a tight game, only allowing seven shots to one of the area’s top ranked teams. Then on May 9 North battled to a hard fought win over a determined North Hunterdon team. Trading goal for goal, North jumped ahead behind the stellar goaltending of Su, who made 15 saves. In order to advance this season, North will need to play sharply at both ends of the field. If they can play consistently, they just might surprise some big teams along the way.
As for 2006, North will lose six seniors to graduation, but Lalli will be back and is primed to have a breakout season. Brooke Weiner (midfield), Kate Oser (attack), and Kirsten Orloff (midfield) are also expected back next year.
The Lady Knights will next face Montgomery High School, at home, on Tuesday, May 17, at 4 p.m. North then wraps up the regular season at Jackson Memorial on Friday, May 20, at 4 p.m.
South Girls. For Kris Javick, now in her fifth season coaching the Pirates’ girls’ lacrosse team, lacrosse sure isn’t tennis. Javick also coaches the usually dominating Pirates girls tennis in the fall and this spring’s lacrosse season could have her yearning for the respectability of the autumnal courts.
After finishing with a 9-8 record in 2004, the Pirates have slumped to a 2-12 record this season. Starting the season on April 1 — April Fools Day — the Pirates looked like world beaters, dominating Lawrence by a final score of 18-0. Junior attack Alexa Delman had seven goals and Christine McGovern, a senior attack, added five more. Carley Nesson, Laura Delaney, and Stephanie Hagen rounded out the scoring and the Pirate defense only allowed seven shots on junior goalie Danielle Martinez.
South then lost next eight games in a row, often by lopsided scores. Although Javick has said all season that her team has a lot of potential, the wins continued to be elusive until a May 4 game against a winless Ewing team. The Pirates won, 15-0, with Lauren Fucetola scoring four goals and McGovern and Sarah Schwartz each scoring three. Martinez needed to make only four saves in earning the shutout.
But South then lost to Hopewell two days later, 15-4. Delman had two goals and McGovern and Schwartz each scored one as Hopewell riddled Martinez in goal with 30 shots. On May 11 the Pirates proved that they were not going to quit, battling South Brunswick for the entire game before losing a heartbreaker, 12-11. Delman added three goals and Fucetola scored four more.
But despite the rough season, the Pirates have had some bright performances. Delman, who will be back for her senior season next year, has been a consistently strong performer all year, notching 33 goals (and one assist). She scored two goals against Notre Dame, one of the area’s best defensive teams. She also scored three against Princeton (in a 10-4 loss on April 11) and five of the team’s six goals in a 10-6 loss to North on April 14.
It was the North loss that probably made the Pirates’ hard-luck season most apparent. After falling behind the Knights, 8-0, in the early part of the game the Pirates outscored them over the final 26 minutes of the game, 6-4, by scoring twice in the final minute of the first half and equaling North, 4-4, in the second half. Goalie Martinez made 15 saves to keep things close throughout, but the Pirates could not over come the initial deficit.
South has seen some strong player from a number of starters this season, including junior defense Lauren Fucetola and Lauren Zondag, as well as juniors Nicole Brand (midfield), Sarah Giusto (defense), Lauren Dinneny (midfield), as well as senior attacks Becca Freed and Alyssa Gentile.
The bright side is that the Pirates will have a deeper team in 2006, with Delman, Fucetola, Lauren Zondag on defense, Martinez, Nicole Brand, Dinneny, Giusto all coming back.
South will play at home on Saturday, May 14, at 11 a.m. against Hunterdon Central, and wrap the season up on Thursday, May 19, at Montgomery.
North Boys. With a 4-9 record, you might say that the Knights boys lacrosse team have a problem with consistency. But after last year’s 12-5 record, led by an senior All American midfielder, Matt Lalli (Kate’s brother), and Mike Meirowitz, at attack, it was a tough act to follow. Add in the fact that the Knights are working under a new head coach this season, and its easy to see why North may be a team in transition.
The season immediately started on a sour note with North opening with losses to Westfield, South Brunswick, and Princeton. But a spark of the old winning ways flared up with the Knights winning the next three in a row, beating Ewing (12-2) on April 14, New Egypt, 12-2, on April 16, and Freehold, 14-4, on April 25.
Senior attack Derek Jackson led the scoring in the wins and losses, notching two goals against Ewing, four on New Egypt, and three more against Freehold. He was the lone offensive contributor in the Knights 8-4 loss against Princeton on April 12, scoring all four North goals. He has emerged as one of the area’s top scoring leaders, leading the team (and eighth in the area) with 28 goals and 15 assists for 43 points.
But after the flurry of wins and just when it looked like things were taking off, everything turned for the worse, with the Knights losing a spell of games (to Pennington, 14-7, on April 30; Hopewell, 16-10, on May 3; and to Hun, 12-5, on May 6, North Hunterdon, 12-9, on May 9; and Princeton Day School, 6-1, on May 11).
After four year Knights’ coach Neil Brown left at the end of last season and Steve Czelusniak was named new head coach. But although this is his first year in WW-P, he has a rich coaching resume, having previously coached at Hun and Princeton Day School. He left coaching in 2001 to become a stay-at-home dad and help raise his two daughters (his wife is a fifth grade teacher in Princeton). He did keep his hand in the game, however, by working as a lacrosse referee. In addition to coaching, Czelusniak teaches health and phy ed at Community Middle and North.
Despite the roller coaster season, a number of North players continue to have outstanding seasons. Senior attack Eric Su has 29 goals and 12 assists for 41 points, including a four goal game in an 14-7 loss to Pennington on April 30 (Jackson added the team’s other three goals) and a five-goal game in the loss to PDS.
In a disappointing loss to Hopewell Valley on May 3, the Knights scored the first two goals of the game and had an one goal lead at the half, 7-6. But North was out-hustled in the second half, being outscored, 6-0, in the first 12 minutes. In the end, North goalie Doug Nosko, a senior, faced 37 shots, stopping 14.
Despite the loses, Nosko has continued to perform as one of the area’s top goalies, regularly standing on his head to keep the KNights in the game. In the loss to Hun, Nosko faced 43 shots, while North attackers were only able to get 17 shots on Hun goalie Trey Geier. In the loss to Pennington, he faced 32 shots, compared to 18 shots on Pennington’s Max Owen.
Other Knights have had strong seasons, including senior attacks Matt Daniell — with 15 goals and 12 assists — and Roger Turco. Senior defense Rob Mihalyi, midfield Ryan Van Lewen, Mike Sheffield have also been effective two-way players.
North will lose 10 seniors to graduation with only a few returning veterans in 2006, including Nick Capps (attack) and midfielder Bill Galton.
The Knights will next host East Brunswick Tuesday, May 17, at 4 p.m. and will try to end the season on a high note at archrival High School South on Saturday, May 21, at 1 p.m.
South Boys. Call it the triple whammy. On April 30 the South boys lacrosse team put on a scoring display that will be hard to match. In a 19-0 victory over a 1-7 New Egypt team, senior attacks Jason Tosches, Jon Lupo, and Mario Ingato all scored hat tricks, notching three goals apiece, a rare accomplishment.
Junior Dan Jankowski scored two goals, while sophomore Ryan Lupo, sophomore Colin Dampier, junior Dante Ingato, sophomore Dan Fryer, junior Ryan Smart, senior Dave Henry, senior Mike Popescu and senior Ty Samardik all scored once.
With a record of 8-4, Pirates coach Kerry Weigner is still hoping to make a mark in 2005. But Tosches, Jon Lupo, and Mario Ingato, have emerged this year as scoring leaders. Lupo is fifth with 28 goals and 29 assists for 57 points and Ingato, with nine goals and 18 assists. Tosches is 14th among area schools in scoring, but leads the Pirates with 39 goals (to go with his 10 assists for 39 points).
The Pirates are currently in the middle pack of the standings, but at 7-4, are still ranked among the area’s best behind Lawrenceville (15-0), Montgomery (11-2), and Hopewell Valley (9-2).
After a heartbreaking 9-7 loss to Montgomery on May 4, South put together impressive wins over East Brunswick, 13-3, on May 6, and Saint Joe’s of Metuchen, 14-8, on May 10. Tosches had nine goals in the two victories.
Pirates’ senior goalie Ben Wilson has adequately taken over for last season’s stand-out, Adam Ferrante. In the 19-0 shutout over New Egypt, Wilson only faced one shot and in the 16-1 win over Ewing he faced just five shots. But he displayed strong performances in wins over Princeton on April 20) when he faced 17 shots on goal in an 11-4 win and faced 22 shots in a win over Hun on April 22, and made 12 saves against Saint Joe’s.
How far the Pirates will get in the playoffs depends on the veteran scoring triumvirate of Tosches, Lupo, and Ingato. The Pirates have home games against Pennington on Friday, May 13, at 4 p.m.; Howell, on Saturday, May 14, at 11 a.m., and Hopewell Valley on Tuesday, May 17, at 4 p.m. South will host North in the season finale on Saturday, May 21, at 1 p.m.
South Tennis Still Reigns
Head coach Jim Giovacchini’s High School South boys tennis team is ranked second best team in the state — higher than any other team from WW-P. With an 18-0 record, including victories over such perennial powers as Lawrenceville and Princeton, South has won the Mercer County Tournament (for the second year in a row), locked up the CVC’s Colonial Division title (by defeating Lawrence, 5-0, on May 9), and soundly defeated archrival High School North (5-0, on May 4).
But with the number two state ranking, behind Newark Academy, comes a new pressure: “Living up to it,” Giovacchini says.
Singles players Shintaro Mori (16-2), Leland Richardson (18-0), and Russell Nitzberg (17-0), have proved to be the Pirates version of “murderer’s row.” In the finals of the Mercer County Tournament on April 28, Giovacchini (now in his fourth season) saw his team hardly break a sweat, clinching the championship while still in the semifinal round of the tournament.
Although first singles Mori lost in the semifinal round to Princeton standout Chris Hoeland, Richardson easily won the championship in second singles over Ben Harms of Hightstown, 6-0, 6-2. Nitzberg did the same at third singles, 6-0, 6-4, over Seth Stein of Princeton Day School.
At first doubles, Greg Kelley and Ben Cornfeld defeated North’s tandem of Billy Huang and Pat Shock, 6-2, 6-0. “Ben Cornfeld is definitely our most improved player,” says Giovacchini. “Last year he was ranked 13th on the team and this year he is doing a great job with Greg at first doubles.” The brothers duo of Stewart and Steven Fernandez then won the second doubles championship 6-3, 6-1, over Princeton’s Chris Nesi and Yoshihiro Tachibana.
In the win over North, the Pirates ran into a skillful Knights team that put up a battle before ultimately tiring. Mori had some difficulty beating North’s Wayne Jenq, 6-4, 6-3 and Richardson had his hands full with North’s John Cheng, 6-1, 7-5. Nitzberg defeated the Knights’ Apurva Dabholkar, 6-1, 6-0 while both South doubles pairings had close wins over their northern brethren (Kelley and Cornfeld beat Shock and Huang, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 and Fernandez and Fernandez beat Ed Chang and Rahul Gole, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
How much more tennis the Pirates have in the tank remains to be seen. “We’ve played well all season and I just hope we can continue,” says Giovacchini. He will see whether South’s number two ranking is warranted. Up next for the Pirates on their dream season are the NJSIAA Group IV Central championships and then the Group IV state titles.
South is the top-seeded team in the NJSIAA Group IV Central Tournament and will play a home match against the winner of the May 12 Steinert/Brick Memorial match — seeded ninth and eighth respectively — on Tuesday, May 17, at 4 p.m.
High School North, having finished the season with a 10-5 record, is the seventh seeded team in the tournament. The Knights were scheduled to play a home match against Manasquan (the number 11 seed) on Thursday, May 12, after the News went to press. If victorious, North will next play on Tuesday, May 17, at third-seeded Hightstown at 4 p.m.
