Chatham Boys' Lacrosse Advances in County Tournament Against Roxbury

The Chatham boys' lacrosse team got back to its winning ways Tuesday, rebounding from Saturday's loss to Summit by defeating Roxbury, 11-2, in the first round of the Morris County Tournament at Cougar Field.

Chatham used its physical defense throughout the game to shut down the Roxbury offense.

"We needed to pick our level of play up," said Head Coach Anthony Calandra. "We moved Mac Ahsler to long pole and that gave us a little more movement and speed [on defense]."

The move helped the Cougars pick up 30 ground balls throughout the game.

There were a number of saves from goaltenders on both sides in the first quarter, but Chatham eventually scored first. Chatham goaltender Mac Nestler blanked the Rosbury offense until Rob Guida struck at the 9:54 mark. Not to be outdone, Nick Guida and Jack Beattie would add goals of their own to make the score 3-0 by the end of the first.  

"We had a great practice yesterday and we had a lot of energy today," said Nestler. "It started early and we kept it going."

An irate Roxbury head coach badgered the officials from the second quarter on about calls that benefited Chatham. His attempts to spark his players' morale would fall on deaf ears to Roxbury, but not to the refs, as they threatened to take action on him.

In the second quarter, Nick and Rob Guida each scored, and Jack Eisenreich scored twice to make it 7-0 by halftime.                

The second half was relatively uneventful, as Chatham padded its lead with goals from Eisenreich and the Guida brothers. The trio finished with nine out of the team's 11 goals. Matt Proto quietly led the team with four assists, and Nestler stopped every shot he faced before giving way to goaltenders Corey Fritts and Sam Nestler.

"The defense played really well—they weren't giving them shots," said Nestler, who added an assist during the game on a Rob Guida goal.

Calandra praised his goaltender after the game.

"He's been great all year for us—I think he's gotten more confidence after he played well on Saturday," said Calandra. "You've got to ride a hot goalie."                

It seems that, for the time being, Chatham has bounced back from one of its only speed bumps this year. The Cougars will play Kinnelon in the second round of the county tournament Thursday.