Season Comes to an End for Chatham Boys' Lacrosse

MOUNTAIN LAKES — Despite a 10-save effort from goalie Mac Nestler and a valiant rally in the waning seconds, fifth-seeded Chatham fell 8-7 to fourth seed Mountain Lakes in the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA Group I boys' lacrosse tournament at Mountain Lakes High School.

"The effort was great—they played extremely hard," said Chatham Head Coach Anthony Calandra. "They made some mistakes early that they weren't able to come back and overcome."

Andrew Bolland put the Lakers (15-2) up 1-0 just 12 seconds into the game, as the home team won the opening faceoff and took it down the field for a goal.

However, the Cougars (11-7) did not lie down. Chatham responded with a pair of goals to take the lead, but not before Nestler made his first save of the day. With Jack Beattie in the penalty box for a high hit, it appeared that Mountain Lakes was poised to go up 2-0, but Nestler made a point-blank save to keep it a one-goal affair.

On the ensuing Cougar possession, Rob Guida took the ball near the restraining line and dashed to his left down the middle of the Mountain Lakes zone. As he was midway through the zone, he fired a shot that went top shelf to tie it up with just over eight minutes left in the first quarter. A few minutes later, Guida, stationed behind the goal on the right side, weaved through a pair of defenders before a shot over the goalie's right shoulder made it 2-1.

"We came out here trying to shut down number 27," said Mountain Lakes goalie John Muti, who finished with nine saves. "Guida is a fantastic player—he got us for two early ones, but we adjusted our defense."

With 4:52 showing on the clock and Mac Ahsler in the penalty box for a high hit, Kevin Ryan went low from 20 yards out to pull the Lakers even. It could have gotten a lot worse, but with Chris Conroy in the penalty box for pushing Nestler made a pair of point-blank saves to keep it at 2-2.

"I was just doing what I was supposed to do," said Nestler. "We got a penatly and they didn't capitalize on it. I just saw where they were going to shoot, I got there, made the saves and then tried clearing it out."

Stationed on the crease, a wide-open Matt Proto accepted a pass and deposited the ball in the goal for a 3-2 Chatham lead with 3:35 left in the opening frame. Austin DiMarco and Jack Eisenreich traded goals throughout the remainder of the first as Chatham held a 4-3 edge headed to the second stanza.

Andrew Perthoy scored 16 seconds into the second to tie it up, and Tim LeBeau tallied with three seconds left to give Mountain Lakes a 5-4 lead—which would not be relinquished—at the break.

"We kept the rest of the shots [in the first half] outside to give me a chance," said Muti.

The goalies matched saves in the first half of the third quarter, but Rob Orazietti scored on the man-up to push the Lakers ahead 6-4 with 6:14 showing on the clock.

Kyle McDonough scored with 23 seconds left in the third, but Ryan countered 12 ticks later to keep it a two-goal difference with 12 minutes left to play.

McDonough found the top-left corner of the goal 2:13 into the fourth to close it to 7-6, and that's where things got interesting. Nestler came up huge with yet another point-blank save, but the Lakers got the possession right back. Ahsler, though, had a takeaway and the Cougars brought the ball downfield before a failed pass gave the Lakers the ball back.

It seemed Mountain Lakes was set to score again, but Nestler notched another save and Chatham brought the ball downfield. It was there that Guida hit Eisenreich with a beautiful pass, but his shot was stopped by Muti.

"When you lose your last game you want to put your best effort out there, and I think this is one of our better efforts of the year," said Calandra. "The heart and the desire. They were all over the place, and they left it on the field."

Perthoy added another goal with 2:39 left to make it 8-6, but Chatham didn't get discouraged and kept on fighting. Beattie had a one-on-one with about a minute and a half left, but Muti made the save. Then, 30 seconds later, Eisenreich recieved a wide-open quick-stick feed from Guida but dropped it on the crease. McDonough, though, solved Muti on a fast break to close it to 8-7 with 13 ticks left to play.

"I was a little worried, but we have a great facoff guy—they don't really get facoff posssession that much," said Muti. "I was pretty confident we'd pull it out."

Mountain Lakes won the following faceoff and took it down the field before running out the clock to advance.

"I thought as a team we played well early," said Nestler. "We had a few mistakes early, but we capitalized on it and fought to the end. It's a shame that we lost by one but there's nothing we can do about it now."