There is a humorous dynamic when it comes to Anthony Cacace, his dad, his uncle, his uncle’s fence and his lacrosse success.
While in second grade, the child who would go on to become Steinert’s second-leading all-time boys scorer, attended his cousin’s rec lacrosse game and his exact words were “Wow, this is crazy, I really want to try this.”
Thus, he had his parents purchase little plastic lacrosse sticks from a sporting goods store and Anthony started having catches in the backyard with his father, Jim.
Dad, however, wasn’t quite sure how to use the sticks.
“Nah, not really,” Cacace said. “We kind of learned together to be honest with you. He started to get better with it over the years. As I started throwing the ball harder at him he really had no choice.”
Thanks to Jim’s encouragement of his son’s interest, his brother and next-door neighbor, Ed, found himself doing more home improvement chores than he would have liked.
“I was always obsessed with shooting, running was never my strong point,” Cacace said. “It got a little better over the years, but never what I was good at it so I had to make up for it by moving the ball pretty fast out of my stick.
“So, I spent hour and hours on end on our deck just shooting. I can’t even tell you how many balls I lost shooting over the fence. My uncle has a white fence with white lattice design at the top, and it’s funny how many times he’s had to replace those sheets of latus because I’ve shattered them out.”
Forgive Ed if he misses the humor in all that, but he can take pride in knowing his broken fence played a role in producing the second 100-goal scorer in Spartan history. Cacace scored 39 his senior season, finishing with 137 for his career. That places him behind Conner Braddock with 164.
Braddock owns nearly every Steinert scoring record except for one, which Cacace set this year by scoring 10 goals in one game against Nottingham. Anthony’s inclusion into the century club came in the season’s second game, when he scored twice in a 7-6 loss to Lawrence for an even 100.
The milestone occurred on a fast break, when Edward McGovern threw a pass to Cacace in the crease. He threw a fake at the goalie and “then just kind of tossed it in.”
“It was kind of like a trophy in a sense,” Cacace said. “It shows all the work you put in the last four years. It really makes me think about the team as a whole, because I would not have been able to do it without those guys on the team helping me out. It was a great feeling having that happen. It kind of felt like everything paid off in that moment. It was an accomplishment because that is what I worked for since I first stepped on that field.”
Cacace brought ample experience with him to Steinert as he began playing in the Robbinsville Recreation League in third grade, and moved up to travel ball with the New Jersey Lacrosse Club. He has been an attackman since he started and all those fence-breaking sessions honed his shot enough to impress Spartans coach Bob Ziegler.
“He’s always had a great shot,” Ziegler said. “He wasn’t a great dodger, but he had a great shot and he knew who to attack on defense and he had a lot of knowledge of the game. You can draw up all the X’s and O’s that you want, but he knew where to be and when to be there.”
‘I really have to thank him the most for the 100 goals. With me and him working together it just came a lot easier than you would think.’
It didn’t hurt that his first day of high school provided an optimistic omen. As he filed into his first-period class, Braddock “was one of the first kids who walked in front of me.” Since Braddock went to Reynolds Middle School and Cacace was coming from Grice, he had no clue who Conner was. As it turned out, Cacace was given a seat directly behind Braddock, meaning the two greatest boys’ lacrosse scorers in school history were placed a few feet apart just 50 minutes into Cacace’s high school career.
“Come to find out, three years later he would be one of my best friends and one of the best people to play with on the field because we worked off each other completely, every game we could,” Cacace said. “I really have to thank him the most for the 100 goals. With me and him working together it just came a lot easier than you would think.”
Cacace burst on the scene with 29 goals and 4 assists, far surpassing Braddock’s freshman total of 13 goals. Part of the reason is that Braddock was scoring 40 goals that same year, so defenses were tuned in to him and leaving Cacace a bit more unattended.
“He fit in since day one,” Ziegler said. “He did a great job kind of knowing his role as a young player and as he got older, more and more of the offense revolved around him. Obviously having Conner around him was a big help, but Ant was on that left side with that big shot of his and hitting the corners (of the goal) for four years. It was never any type of unfriendly competition between the two. They fed each other really well, they knew where each other was gonna be and both had a lot of big games for us.”
The totals moved to 28 goals and 19 assists as a sophomore, and could have been more had Cacace not suffered a back injury that slowed him down. He attempted to play in pain, finally sat out four games and came back still in pain but determined to play.
As a junior he exploded for 41 goals and 31 assists, as he and Braddock combined for 94 and 56 that year. Few, if any defenses could stop them. With Braddock graduating last year and Steinert returning a young team, defenses were able to focus on Cacace. He still managed to score 39 goals, but his opportunities were not as plentiful.
“The first year he had a good year because no one really knew about him,” Ziegler said. “His second year was frustrating because he was injured. His junior year was his best season, as his skills had progressed and we had Conner next to him and everybody knew Conner. So, a lot of times he drew the second-best defender. They wouldn’t slide in quickly because they didn’t want to leave Conner open. I don’t think this year he necessarily regressed, I think the nature of the team changed and that’s the way the season went for us. We were on defense a lot this year and when we don’t have the ball, Ant’s not in the picture.”
Cacace hopes to be in the lacrosse picture at Rowan next season. The Profs do not have an NCAA program but field a competitive club team.
“I’m not ready to stop playing but I don’t want to make this my life in college because in college there’s more things to focus on,” he said. “I have to get started on my life and do more things toward my (business) major. I want to devote most of my focus and attention to that rather than lacrosse, but there’s no way I’m giving it up. I’m not done playing yet.”
Somehow, Uncle Ed probably doesn’t find that too comforting.
Steinert High lacrosse captain Anthony Cacace in action May 1, 2018 at home against Ewing. Steinert won, 13-0. (Photo by Amanda Ruch.),
