Millburn Edges Lancers in Jake Cup

Perhaps member of the Millburn boys lacrosse team have all been taking theatre classes this spring because they surely pulled out a dramatic victory Thursday night at Dr. Keith A. Neigel Field. The Millers rallied from two goals down, scoring three times in the final nine minutes of play to come away with a 6-5 win over Livingston.

"You almost can't put it into words," said Millburn head coach Brian Zusi. "It was kind of a stressful game, it was back and forth the whole time... I hate to use the word lucky, but we got one to spin our way with Collingwood scoring that long-stick goal."

The opening day win also gave the Millers the Jake Cup for the fifth time in seven years and county bragging rights over the Lancers at least until a possible meeting in the annual Essex County Tournament.

The Jake Cup is an annual match up between the Millers and the Lancers, named after Livingston's hall of fame football and boys lacrosse coach Al Jacobsen who finished his career at Millburn High School. The game is held annually in his memory.

Down by two early in the fourth quarter, Ricky Simon found a crack on the left side of Livingston's net to bring the Millers within a goal at 5-4. Later in the quarter, after forcing a Livingston turnover, defenseman James Collingwood ran the length of the field right to the net for the equalizer with 3:37 left. Livingston kept dropping back trying not to commit to him and leaving an attacker open, so Millburn's defenseman took advantage.

Twenty-three seconds later, John Zhaka found Simon at the top of the circle and Simon finished off the play with a jumping fade away goal that caught the top of the net and gave Millburn its first lead of the contest.

The Millers were able to possess the ball for most of the rest of the game to preserve the come from behind win.

"We said that a two goal lead is the hardest one to keep and we saw it is. It's the hardest one to keep," Zusi said.

Things did not start out very well for the Millers in the game. The Lancers scored the opening goal at the 9:31 mark of the first quarter on a laser from the top of the circle by Michael Dalnia. Andrew Lesser put the Lancers up 2-0 when he scored on a wrap around goal, beating his defender to the spot.

"They really held the ball. They worked the ball around, they were smart about it. They were very disciplined in their passes," Zusi said.

In the second quarter, Dalnia struck again on a bouncer from about 10 yards out, putting Livingston up 3-0 and seemingly in control of the match. But 22 seconds later Max Okinow broke through for Millburn, weaving through a bevy of defenders for an unassisted score.

Brian Baker made the score 3-2 at the 9:21 mark coming off of a Millburn timeout. The Miller made a nice spin move near the net to create some space, losing his defender, and then bounced it home.

At the 4:50 mark, Lesser went on a run towards the net and found a hole to put Livingston up 4-2. But with 1:10 left in the opening half, Okinow scored on a bouncer while falling down after being fouled and knocked to the ground.

Millburn was shutout in the third quarter while Dalnia scored his third goal of the game, taking a pass from Austin Liu as he slashed to the net. Up 5-3 headed into the fourth quarter Livingston looked in complete control.

"We forced at times. We went back to our old Livingston mentality where we try to force the issue too much," said Livngston head coach Patrick Crann. "We can't do that. You got to be smart. You can't try to dodge two guys. If we moved the ball like we were taught, I think we would've been ok."

The slight difference in this game was in fourth quarter play. The Millers out-shot the Lancers 6-2 in the final quarter and also had two fewer turnovers than Livingston.

Millburn is in action again on Saturday at home against Madison at 11 a.m. Livingston faces Westfield at the same time at Livingston High School.