After Hot Second Half, Chatham Boys' Lacrosse Defeats Randolph

RANDOLPH — The Chatham boys' lacrosse team will look to carry the momentum from its impressive second-half performance against Randolph into upcoming games against Madison and Summit.

The Cougars found a nice rhythm in the second half and Chatham picked up a 13-8 victory over the Rams Saturday night at Randolph High School.

Jack Eisenreich and Rob Guida each scored four goals apiece for Chatham (7-3). Guida also added three assists. Rob Smith picked up a hat trick for Randolph, which has lost three straight.

"Any time you can win and show a gritty-type effort, you hope it carries over," said Chatham coach Anthony Calandra. "With games against teams like Madison and Summit, and the Morris County Tournament after that, we're looking at tonight as our last regular-season game. Our playoffs start Tuesday."

After a turnover- and penalty-filled first half, the Cougars took control in the third quarter on both sides of the ball.

Randolph (2-9) took its final lead of the game, 6-5, on a Smith goal 22 seconds after the halftime break. It would be the Rams' last goal for 16 minutes of game time, and in that time, Chatham scored five straight.

"We banded together in the second half," Calandra said. "We tightened up defensively, stopped reaching, and stopped trying to overextend ourselves."

Eisenreich scored a goal on each of two man-advantages midway through the third period to put Chatham ahead, 9-6.

It was justice for Calandra, who was unhappy that most of the penalty calls in the first half went against his side.

"It's tough when you get down a man seven times in a half," Calandra said. "You don't like to talk about the officiating, but it's been awful these last two games, taking the continuity out of the game."

Randolph, for their part, couldn't seem to take possession during the third quarter; when they did, Chatham goalie Mac Nestler held them in check. Nestler had an excellent game, making 12 stops, and stopping four of the five shots he faced in the third quarter as Chatham extended its lead.

Tyler Healey capitalized on one of Nestler's few mistakes, intercepting a pass and turning it into a goal which cut the Rams' deficit to 10-7 with 8:00 to play.

But Guida answered back on Chatham's next possession with a stunning goal, slamming through two defenders at the top of the box and firing a laser past Randolph goalie Tim Heineman.

"He does that for us every game," Calandra said. "He will sometimes just take the game on his back, as he did tonight."

Nick Guida put the exclamation point on Chatham's win with a perfectly-executed stall of nearly two minutes, capped by a goal with 5:01 to go that gave Chatham a 13-7 lead.

It was quite a turnaround from the first half. Randolph surprised the Cougars early, scoring the game's first three goals in the first 3:18 of the first quarter.

"They came out and hit us a little bit," Calandra said. "We weren't expecting to go down 3-0."

Chatham slowly worked its way back in, pulling back two goals during the remainder of the first period. The Cougars tied the game at 3-3 when Sean Whiteman intercepted a pass from the Randolph goalie and found Eisenreich all alone in front of an undefended net.

But Randolph would maintain the advantage, winning ground balls and earning penalty calls that killed any momentum Chatham could build.

Preston Naslonski converted Randolph's only man-advantage goal with 5:59 remaining in the half, giving the Rams a 5-3 lead.

Rob Guida and Beattie scored goals 19 seconds apart a minute later to tie the game, and Chatham had several chances to take a lead into halftime. But they committed four turnovers on four consecutive possessions, and allowed Randolph to control the pace of play.

The Cougars are next in action Tuesday afternoon at Madison High School.

BOX SCORE
Chatham (7-3)      2  3  4  4  -  13
Randolph (2-9)    3  2   1  2  -    8

GOALS
CHAT- Jack Eisenreich 4, Rob Guida 4, Jack Beattie 2, Nick Guida 2, Kyle McDonough 1
RAND- Rob Smith 3, Kurtis Naslonski 2, Preston Naslonski 1, Tyler Healey 1

ASSISTS
CHAT- Rob Guida 3, Sean Whiteman 2, Jack Beattie 1, Nick Guida 1, Kyle McDonough 1
RAND- Preston Naslonski 2, John Yachmetz 2, Rob Smith 1

SHOTS
Chatham     9  6  12  9  -  36
Randolph   7  9    6  6  -  28

SAVES
CHAT- Mac Nestler 12
RAND- Wes Odell 7, Tim Heinemen 5