Mamaroneck Boys Lax Season Ends with 11-6 Loss

Mamaroneck's boys lacrosse season came to an end on Tuesday as the Tigers were defeated by Brewster 11-6 in the quarterfinals of the Class B sectional playoffs.

The loss to Brewster was a disappointing end to an otherwise largely successful year for Mamaroneck, which ended the season with a record of 14-3 and at one point won ten straight.

The Tigers found themselves down 1-0 early against Brewster before senior Hunter Pawloff scored to tie the game.

Mamaroneck dominated possession and constantly threatened the Brewster goal, but a few costly turnovers and some missed offensive opportunities opened the door for the Bears, who scored three times before the end of the first period to take a 4-1 lead.

Despite continuing to commit turnovers --  many of them unforced -- Mamaroneck stormed back in the second quarter. Goals from junior Josh Trachtenberg and freshman Peter Conley made it  4-4 with a little under four minutes remaining before halftime.

Once again, Brewster closed out the period strong, however, answering with two goals in the last two-and-a-half minutes of the quarter to take a 6-4 advantage. The Bears held Mamaroneck scoreless in the third period, and opened up an 11-4 lead halfway through the fourth quarter.

Mamaroneck scored twice in the last minute of the game.

"We made some uncharacteristic mistakes," Mamaroneck head coach Jeff Barnard said. "We were off sides twice today and I don't think we've been off sides once before all year."

Mamaroneck outshot Brewster and had the majority of the possession but simply wasn't able to finish its offensive possessions with goals. Brewster goalie Andrew Nicoli came up huge for the Bears, making an array of saves, including a couple at point blank range.

"Their goalie was very good, probably the best we've seen all year," Conley said. "We had a bunch of chances. If we would have executed them better it would have been a much closer game."

Conley was Mamaroneck's biggest offensive threat against Brewster, finishing the game with two goals on four shots and three groundballs. Conley ended his stellar freshman season with 48 goals and 14 assists and as one of the top-ten best offensive players in the area.

Trachtenberg also finished the game with two goals and senior Marc Lanni contributed one goal. The Tigers were unable to stop Brewster's Tim Meyerr, who constantly found himself open in the heart of the Mamaroneck defense scoring six goals.

With the win, Brewster avenged an 8-4 loss suffered at the hands of the Tigers back on April 10th.

"It was rough," Barnard said. "We had played them and we had beaten them. I think they came out very intense and we may have been a little flat. Our slide package wasn't working too well today. We were just a little slow."

Still, Barnard focused on the positives.

"I thank the seniors first of all," he added. "We had very hard working seniors this year."