LAM, COYLE, FERGUSON, GERNE, GILFORD FIND NET
Prepared by DAVID B. CORBIN
Exuberant Pirate fans were hoping that fire would be blazing immediately out of the cannons of their beloved Seton Hall Prep boys lacrosse team, ranked No. 1 when they cruised into Gary Kehler Stadium to do battle with No. 9 Westfield on April 12. But the Blue Devils and their fans were also snorting fire and after getting hit broadside once early in the game, roared back with a vengeance in the second and third quarters then held off a fourth-quarter Pirate surge to pull off a 10-9 upset victory.
The loss dropped the Pirates’ record to 1-3 but the other two setbacks were to Florida opponents IMG Academy (9-8) and Lake Mary (9-6). Their win was over the Chatham Cougars (9-6). After the Blue Devils lost an 8-7, overtime heartbreaker to St. Augustine, they beat Summit, 5-3, and Montclair, 10-8, before tacking on win No. 3 over the Pirates.
In the pit, Blue Devil senior Josh Caramagno had his work cut out for himself against Lucas Angel, who won 13 of the 23 face-offs. Senior attacker Cody Lam flicked in three goals, all in the second half. Junior attackers Colin Coyle and Garrett Ferguson each put in two goals and dished out three assists. Junior midfielder Will Gerne scored twice and junior midfielder Christian Gilford scored once. Junior goalkeeper Corey Gilford recorded nine saves.
Tyler Juhlin led the Pirates with four goals. Owen Dunleavy netted a pair of goals and an assist. Luke Knezovic had a goal and two assists. Brad Schuster scored once and scooped three ground balls. Nolan Sabel scored once. GoalkeeperAdam Angel recorded four saves.
The Pirates made good on their first volley when Schuster on Knezovic’s assist, fired in a left-side slant goal just 1:09 into the game. A minute later, Blue Devil senior defender Jack Paris scooped a ground ball and got it to Lam, who whipped a pointblank shot but Angel managed to make the save. But with 6:02 on the clock, Gerne got close and knotted the score. The Blue Devils’ second goal may have been set up by long stick middie Drew Pravlik, who scooped the ball and got it up field to the offense. Coyle then pulled off one of the neatest maneuvers when he curled around from behind the net on the opponent’s right side, made a counterclockwise pivot and slammed one home for a 2-1 lead with 4:37 showing. With 2:04 left in the quarter, Juhlin on an assist from Knezovic, bounced a one-hopper past Gilford from the right-center.
Early in the second quarter, the Pirates caught fire to grab a 4-2 lead. First Juhlin on Joe DelMauro’s assist put one in with 10:06 on the clock. Two minutes later, Knezovic assisted by Chris Schweiger, scored. From there, the Blue Devils unloaded with four straight goals to end the quarter with a 6-4 lead. Will Gerne (Coyle assist) scored with 7:14 left in the half. Less than two minutes later Ferguson set up Coyle to tie the game at 4-4. Two minutes later, Coyle returned the favor to Ferguson to put Westfield ahead, 5-4, then with 30 seconds left in the half, Christian Gilford (Corey Gilford assist) made the score 6-4.
But the Blue Devils’ unanswered scoring streak was not over. Less than two minutes into the third quarter sophomore Ben Seward assisted Ferguson on his second goal then with 3:16 showing, Ferguson assisted Lam on his first goal. The streak was snapped when Dunleavy (Knezovic assist) made the score 8-4 with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.
Lam scored his second goal one minute into the fourth quarter but the Pirates would make the game very interesting with three straight goals to cut the lead to 9-8. Sabel (Dunleavy assist) scored at 7:50 remaining then 28 seconds later Juhlin (Schweiger assist) struck gold. DelMauro assisted Dunleavy with 6:39 left in the game. Within three minutes, the Coyle-to-Lam combination made the score 108. With 1:52 left in the game, Juhlin (Schweiger assist) scored the final goal.
