Friday: Orchard Park at the Buzzer

April 3, 2009 - It was a tale of two halves, when the Canandaigua Braves opened their season at Orchard Park (Section 6), with miserable rain and wind making conditions difficult. The game was the first lacrosse game held on the new, two million dollar turf field recently installed at Orchard Park. The game, sparking state-wide attention, brought together a rematch of last years' NYS Western regional game that Canandaigua won 11-5.

This was not the same night, however, as the torrential rain and winds of 40 miles per hour made it hard of each team to control their feet or their passes. In this game, Orchard Park was the 5-4 winner with a last second goal by All American attackman, Jeff Tundo.

The first half clearly belonged to Canandaigua, who possessed the ball for most of the half, often the result of OP penalties. In fact, the Braves scored their first two goals while in man up. The first goal, at 6:46, was a bounce shot to the upper right corner by senior middie John Klein on a feed from junior attackman Brandon Thomson. The second goal, also in man up, was by senior attackman Brian Scheetz from senior midfielder Marshall Johnson. That goal came at 1:08 but on ensuing face off, OP's face off specialist, Mike Moran, playing against CA's Johnson, picked up his own ground ball and drove directly to the goal shooting the ball from just inside the restraining line and scoring on CA's junior goalie Nate King.

With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Tom LaCrosse took an outside shot from the goalie's top right. After a save, the ball ended up outside the crease, with OP goalie Ryan Cole on the ground, trying to clamp down on the ball. Senior attackman, Tanner Scharr scooped up the ball when it popped out, and put it in the empty net as the clock stopped with 0:02 left in the quarter. Canandaigua led at the end of one quarter 3-1.

Early in the second quarter, LaCrosse scored on a drive from a CA clear. Running from the midfield line he swept slightly right and sent a hard outside shot that held close to the wet turf and past OP's Ryan Cole. On the other end of the field, Nick King made a number of saves that kept the momentum in favor of the Braves as they left the field for half time with a 4-1 lead.

The second half, however belonged to Orchard Park, as they held the Braves scoreless for the rest of the game. The fight back, however, was not easy, but the Quakers were more methodical and controlled as the penalty time, which was clearly a problem in the first half, slowed down and they saw considerably more ball time.

Senior midfielder Kyle Kasprzyk, playing an inverted position from behind the cage, scored an unassisted goal on a drive from behind the cage and after dodging his defender won a one-on-one with King. The Quakers were within two goals.

After the half, OP star attackman Jeff Tundo, was moved to midfield where he was able to draw the CA long stick. The move, gave Art Marrapese, playing in the midfield far more freedom, as the adjacent middies were constantly thinking about potential slide to help control Tundo. Marrapese was able to score an unassisted goal with 0:20 left in the third quarter on a drive from out front. Entering the fourth quarter, CA still led 4-3.

With the weather getting worse, and players' uniforms and equipment waterlogged, the last quarter moved slowly, but with just less than four minutes left in the game, Marrapese scored again, this time on a drive from the restraining line. He ran toward the goal, fading a little to his right as he shot the ball to the goalie's lower right corner of the goal tying the teams at 4-4.

With less than two minutes, Canandaigua received a penalty, giving the Quakers the ball and the feeling of great opportunity. Although the Braves successfully defended against the man up, Orchard Park maintained possession and as the clock wound down to twenty seconds, Tundo took the ball behind the cage and held the ball, waiting for the last shot. At the 0:15 mark, he started his drive to the goalie's left and was held off by the CA defense who forced him toward the top of the box. Sweeping to the goalie's right, Tundo put on the brakes and shot the ball at the cage with less than a second on the clock and scored with no time left in play, giving Orchard Park at 5-4 win.

Scoring for Orchard Parks were Mike Moran (1g), Art Marrapese (2g), Kyle Kasprzyk (1g) and Jeff Tundo (1g). Ryan Cole played the entire game at goalie and made 7s/4ga for the Quakers.

Scoring for Canandaigua were Tanner Scharr (1g), Brian Scheetz (1g), Tom LaCrosse (1g), John Klein (1g), Brandon Thomson (1a) and Marshall Johnson (1a). Nick King had 4s/5ga for the Braves.