Sports
Cougars Lacrosse Can't Scratch Their Way Past Trojans
Cougars fight hard all game, including goalie Patrick Grillo who made 12 saves.
Kennedy Coach Craig Papach revealed the Cougars' two main objectives going into their game against Garden City yesterday - don't get shut out and don't let up 10 goals. Well, one for two isn't bad. The Cougars fell to the Trojans, 10-2.
Although the score shows a one-sided battle, it truly wasn't the case. The Cougars fought hard all game, even scoring the first goal of the game.
After Michael Casson's goal, the Trojans seemed to wake up, scoring three unanswered goals in the rest of the quarter. Garden City sophomores Liam Kennedy and Rob Savage and senior Matt Montgomery had one goal apiece to take a 3-1 lead.
Find out what's happening in Merrickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Kennedy's senior defenseman Brett Lampert had a rough day with penalties as he was called on three personals in the half. He was all over the field, making play after play against the Trojans all-star offense. Alongside Lampert were Andrew Kruter and Ross Gerlack who also did everything they could to prevent even more damage.
Kennedy only scored one other goal in the game and it came late in the first half by senior Jared Lerman. At the half, Garden City took a 5-2 lead.
Find out what's happening in Merrickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The second half was dominated by the Trojans as they scored five unanswered goals, shutting out the Kennedy side for 14 minutes. Garden City showed its skills with some amazing passes that led to key goals. Defenseman Brian Fischer scored a great goal, as did his defensive partner JP Burnside. Garden City's star of the game was Devin Dwyer, who had six assists on the day.
Although the score may say otherwise, Kennedy goalie, Patrick Grillo made this game as close as it was. Grillo had 12 amazing saves and even had the Garden City bench in amazement with some of his moves.
"This was a hard game to prepare for, but we played well," said Papach. "We played at a high level the whole game and we were playing super stars."
On the other side of the field, Trojan Coach Steve Finnell added, "we did a good job on defense and we shut them down."
Garden City has two more games this week, as hit hopes to take the No. 1 seed in the playoffs with wins against Calhoun and Division. Kennedy has only Elmont to face on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
