Clarkstown North Boys Lacrosse Heats Up After Defeating the Highland in Second Consecutive Win

The Clarkstown North boys lacrosse is now 2-3 after winning their second consecutive game, 13-3, over the Highland Huskies.

After defeating Nanuet Wednesday, 10-9, the Rams are on a hot streak as they were nearly unstoppable offensively on Thursday. Both offensively and defensively, it was evident that the team is beginning to play with a new cohesiveness and confidence.  For North’s head coach John Fitzgerald, the win was all about everything beginning to click.

“I think we stuck with the game plan,” said Fitzgerald.  “We talked about moving the ball quickly on offense, we talked about feeding the crease.  In the first half we had ten and we had eight goals from the crease and that’s how our offense has to work.  Our goalie, Joey Ramirez-Apuzzo played well.  He played well yesterday and came back and played well today.  Our defense was solid and it was a good day for us.  Everything clicked today, it’s about time.  I’ve been waiting a while.”

Junior attacker Vincent Barbetto, who played an excellent game with 3 goals and 3 assists, said, “We were able to move the ball around, look for clean shots, open lanes and whoever was open.”

As for Highland, though they showed a lot of heart as they played a hard-fought match through to the end, it was clear that they were outmatched by the stronger, faster and more experienced Rams.

“These guys are a young team,” said Fitzgerald.  “They ran the field hard after a long bus ride.  They did a good job, the kids ran the field hard.  The unfortunate thing for them is they don’t have a JV, so all the kids are learning on the varsity level, and again it’s a new program, but his kids were good.  They ran the field right to the end and what else can you ask for.  That’s the same thing we talked about last year and that’s what it’s all about.”

North came out hard in the first and never let up.  They controlled the ball and executed to outscore Highlands 4:1 as they shot 50% for the quarter.  Sophomore midfielder Anthony Termine started it off for North to put them up 1-0.  He then set up senior attacker Kevin Reilly to put North up 2-0.  Husky William Purdy retaliated to put his team on the board, however North came right back with two more goals of their own by Reilly and senior attacker Gerard Damiani.

Up 4-1 to start the second, North came out hard again and continued to dominate as they barely let the Huskies hang onto a possession.  The Rams were 7 of 14 in the second as they let up only three shots and no goals.  Damiani tacked on another four goals, Reilly added another, Barbetto scored his first and senior midfielder Mike Glennon scored his first as well.  This left the Rams leading 11-1 going into the second half.

Things slowed down a bit for the Rams in the second half and picked up for the Huskies as North’s second string began to take over.  Barbetto had two more goals in the third to put North up 13-1.  Purdy started a slight comeback in the fourth for the Huskies, which Kieran McInerney built on to put the final score at 13-3.

Top scorers for North were Damiani, with five goals, Barbetto, with three goals and three assists, and Reilly with three goals and one assist.  North shot just under 50% as they finished at 13 of 28 for the night.  North’s defense allowed only 11 shots on goal and Ramirez-Apuzzo had a solid night in saving all but three of those.

“It feels good,” said Barbetto of his excellent performance.  “I got to rack up my points, it feels good, but I’ve got to give it to my team too, because they’re also how I got that.”

North plays at home against Nyack this afternoon at 4:15 p.m.  Barbetto is confident in his team’s ability to take home the win, saying, “[We need] to come out as hard.  If we come out hard like we did yesterday and today we’ll come out with a victory.”

For Fitzgerald, he’s thrilled with the streak so far and looks to see what they can do today and next week, saying, “It’s great, two in a row, it’s been a long time.  Two in a row feels good, especially starting 0-3, now we have the last two and tomorrow’s a tough one against Nyack.  Next week, we have Pearl River and Albertus, so it’s all county teams.  So we’ll see what we’re made of.”