It was a similar scenario on May 17 when the North and South boys’ lacrosse faced off against each other, with the showdown heading into overtime as it did last year. The outcomes were different, however, with a goal by North’s A.J. Reichert sending the Knights to an 11-10 comeback win over South, which had led 10-5 in the fourth quarter.##M:[more]##
It wasn’t the first time this season the Knights were able to deliver a comeback, with a previous rally over the Hun School, 14-13. And it has been this determination, and the hard work put in by the team’s sophomores that has led the team despite its youth, to exceed expectations.
While the Knights ultimately fell to West Morris Central in the state quarterfinals, Coach Steve Czelusniak says he is happy with the team’s final record of 12-6. “We didn’t know what was going to happen with so many sophomores having to step up and play starting roles on the team,” he says. “We weren’t sure how they would handle the varsity level, but we far exceeded expectations.”
Czelusniak acknowledges that there were some disappointments along the way, including losses to Notre Dame and North Hunterdon, but victories over Princeton and Hopewell, coupled with the team’s comeback over South and Hun, made it a great run for the Knights this year. “It’s certainly more than we could have asked for,” he said.
When the Knights were down by 10-5 heading into the fourth quarter against the Pirates, Czelusniak says he told his team that “I’ve seen a lot of lacrosse games and four to five goals in lacrosse is not a huge deficit to make up, and if they just keep working hard, the breaks would come.”
“We just kept working hard at defense, and Killian Brakel made some great saves in the goal, and the defense was able to cause some turnovers and give the ball back to our offense,” he said. The Knights simply kept it calm, and didn’t give up, he says.
“We patiently worked at it, one goal at a time,” Czelusniak added, mentioning that Reichert had not scored throughout regulation and simply drove across the box and delivered the winning shot.
The team’s efforts this year is a good indicator for next season. “We have our entire defense coming back,” Czelusniak says. “We lose Ernie Park off the attack, and that’s really a major loss.” But, players like Dan Brzezynski and Andrew Washuta will also be back, he added. “I think we’ll be okay. Certainly Drew Kenavan and Sean Reed and Scott Martin are all solid midfielders that will be back next season.”
Meanwhile, the Pirates have their own reasons for celebration. With their victory over Ridge, 17-10, on May 24, the Pirates made it to the semifinal round of the state tournament for the first time in the program’s history. Despite falling to Ridgewood on May 27, players like Dave Twamley, Carlo Ingato, and Mike Efstathios led the Pirates, who ended with a successful 13-6 run this year.
“It was really just an excellent season for us,” Coach Matt Foret says. “Our program has never been that deep in the state tournament before.” Foret says the team had high expectation coming into the season, especially with a healthy helping of key returning players. One of the team’s biggest strengths, he said, was the transition game. “We were able to get the ball from our defensive end to our offensive end really effectively,” which Foret says is a major contributing factor to the team’s high scoring average of about 14 goals per game. “Offensively, we shot the ball extremely well all season, and that was a huge strength for us,” Foret says.
Two of the leading scorers — Ingato and Efstathios — are graduating this year. Efstathios eventually edged Twamley this season to become the leading scorer, with over 50 goals and 80 points this season. Ingato also had over 40 goals and 70-plus points. “That’s a lot of production for us to lose, so we’ll need to find somebody to fill our shoes.” Twamley, the team’s other high scorer, is only a junior and will be back next year.
