Bullis Varsity Lacrosse Team Aims for IAC Title

Whether it’s been at practice, in a game or even off the field altogether, senior Cary Garfinkel has consistently tried to stress to his teammates the importance of doing everything they can to get better every single day.

While the season hasn’t exactly started as planned for the experienced Bulldogs (2-2), Garfinkel believes this year’s team is not only capable of turning things around but of also possibly competing for the first IAC championship in school history.

Bullis lost just four starters from last season’s team that won 10 of its first 11 games and finished 15-5.

“Our mission is the IAC championship,” Garfinkel said. “That’s what we’re striving for. We just need to get better every day and come together as a team.”

If this past weekend was any indication, the Bulldogs are beginning to do just that. 

After dropping two of their first three games, they beat Calverton, 8-5, on Saturday.

Fueled by senior defender John Kelly, a highly touted recruit that has committed to Johns Hopkins University, Bullis has limited three of its first four opponents to just five goals or less.

Senior goalie Ryan McMahon, who will play in college at Division III Ohio Wesleyan, posted 158 saves and a 61 percent save percentage last year.

“Our experience on the defensive end is definitely our biggest strength,” said Bulldogs second-year coach Bobby Pollicino. “I really feel like we can limit teams’ opportunities to score goals on a consistent basis. We’ve been pretty successful so far this year and that’s what we’re hoping to continue to do going forward.”

But Pollicino is also hoping for more out of an offense, which returned two of its top three scorers from last season’s team – Garfinkel (35 goals, 15 assists) and junior Kylor Bellistri (37, 15).

Yet while Pollicino is expecting large contributions from Garfinkel and Bellistri as well as junior midfielder Nick Fisher, he admits it hasn’t been easy replacing departed attackman Robert Fleming (34 goals, 37 assists), who now plays at Providence.

Bullis, which recorded 12 goals or more nine times last year, has been held to eight goals or less in three of its first four games, including just four in a frustrating, 6-4, loss to Severn in its season-opener.

“Our biggest weakness right now is being able to generate offense consistently,” Pollicino said. “We’ll bang home three goals in the matter of two minutes, but we’ll also have some spurts where we don’t really get many quality scoring opportunities at all. We need to be able to consistently put more pressure on opposing teams throughout the course of a game. If we can do that, it will give us the best opportunity to win.”

Garfinkel offered a similar take.

“We just haven’t been finishing our shots,” Garfinkel said. “We’ve been getting shots on cage, but just haven’t been putting them in. But we’re definitely capable of shooting better and that’s something we’ve been working on. I think as the season progresses our shooting percentage will go up.”

And even despite the early struggles, Garfinkel has maintained optimism that this is indeed a team that can compete for that elusive IAC championship.

“We’re definitely capable,” Garfinkel said. “It’s just about putting all those pieces together and hopefully we can put them together this year. But I really think our chemistry is great, that we’re a really close-knit group and that will go a long way for us.”