Cougars Defense Cuts Down Island Trees

The Kennedy High School boys lacrosse team scored five unanswered goals in the first period, and that's all they would need to defeat Island Trees yesterday, 10-2.

Three goals by Mike Cassan and superb goaltending by the duo of Patrick Grillo and Alex Naftal helped contribute to the victory.

It was the first round of the Levittown Tournament, and the game was played at MacArthur High School. Kennedy coach Craig Papach knew that getting off to a fast start would be a big key to his team winning the game.

"I was nervous we were going to come out flat," Papach said. "But we came out excited. The kids are playing hard, they're responding, and we're competing so we're real excited about that."

Cassan got the scoring going when he put one past Bulldogs goaltender Joe Gombar six minutes into the game. Chris Wright would score back-to-back goals for the Cougars before Cassan added another, and Kevin Reuter would score the last goal of what would be a dominating quarter for Kennedy.

"We had a good solid, performance both defensively and offensively," Cassan said. "Fast breaks went well, we rode them out pretty tough, and we hit the net when we needed to."

The Bulldogs finally were able to stifle the Cougars attack in the second quarter, but still weren't able to get on the board themselves. After a scoreless quarter, the teams went into halftime with Kennedy leading 5-0.

In the third quarter, Zac Shuldiner scored a goal to extend the Cougars lead to 6-0, but the Bulldogs would finally get on the board after being shut out for the first 28 minutes when Thomas Enders put one in the back of the net.

Kennedy would not be rattled, however, as Shuldiner scored his second goal of the period, and Michael Gavigan would also score to put Kennedy up 8-1.

The Bulldogs would net one more goal when Mike Gilmartin scored with 9:09 remaining in the fourth quarter, and then the Cougars did the rest of the damage as Cassan scored another, and Josh Leiner chipped in a goal. 

It was a disappointing effort from the Bulldogs as they were only able to manage two goals, and coach Doug Rigo expressed his disappointment after the game.

"It all came down to skills," Rigo said. "They had it and we didn't. We've got to work on our passing and catching, and go back to the basics. Our goalie kept the game closer than it should have been, and I thought he had a great game. But it's back to the drawing board for the Bulldogs."

Grillo and Naftal combined to allow only two goals, but were not tested much as a result of the Cougars strong defense. They allowed just five shots on goal all game, and Papach praised the effort put forth by his defense.

"We have three seniors that have been together a long time," Papach said. "They know the defense better than I do. So I trust those guys and let them make a lot of the calls, and we take a lot of pride in our defense."

Ross Gerlack, who along with Andrew Kruter and Brett Lampert make up those three seniors, was proud of the way the defense performed.

"We have an experienced defense that knows how to play," Gerlack said.

The Cougars will try to continue their tournament success when they compete in round two tomorrow.