Saturday: Canandaigua wins State Title!
June 13, 2009 - Rochester's first Lacrosse Championship games were a great success, and the icing on the cake was a 10-5 win by Canandaigua over Niskayuna (Section 2). The Braves defeated the Silver Warriors of Niskayuna 10-5 in today's match-up and won every quarter in the process. In the Class A game, West Islip (Section 11) defeated Orchard Park (Section 6) 10-5. In the Class C game, Manhasset (Section 8) beat LaFayette (Section 3), 16-11. It was the third State Championship for Manhasset and the third win for West Islip who last won in 2006.
-- Canandaigua becomes the second team in Section Five history to win a New York State Championship and the first team to do it in Class B. The Braves defeated the Silver 
Warriors of Niskayuna 10-5 in today's match-up and won every quarter in the process. The Braves won 3-2,2-0,3-2 and 2-1 and held the lead for all but the first four minutes of the contest. Face-off man Marshall Johnson finished the game with 3 goals and 1 assist as well as going 73% at the face-off (14/19). Johnson was named the game's Most Valuable Player. The Defensive Player of the Game was goalie Nick King. King finished with 12 saves (71%) and was a key factor in the Canandaigua win.
Niskayuna came out early and scored the first two goals in 44 seconds. The first two face-offs were also won by Niskayuna's Mike Hall. Hall finished the day 5/18 at the draw. After winning the initial face-off the Silver Warriors took the ball down and Guy Waltman scored on a straight drive from the top. The second goal came on a face-off fast break with long stick Ryan Alden picking up the ground ball taking it in for the goal. The Silver Warriors did not score again for 27 minutes.
Canandaigua regrouped and came back to score the next three before the end of the first quarter. The first was on another face-off fast-break with Marshall Johnson picking up his own ground ball and feeding it to Gannon Osborn for the goal. Johnson also scored the next goal of the game (unassisted) after faking a pass then winding up for the shot. The final goal of the quarter was scored with a feed from behind the crease by Deven Alves to Will Johnson. The Braves led 3-2 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Canandaigua scored the only two goals. Tom LaCrosse and Brandon Thomson scored with Alves and 
Brian Scheetz assisting. Both goals were scored with cross-crease feeds and left the Braves up 5-2 at halftime. Niskayuna scored the first goal of the third quarter when Jared Franze took a hard outside shot that was initially saved by King, but ended up inthe back of the net. Canandaigua responded with two face-off fast-break goals. The first was scored by Scheetz and the second was scored by Johnson after running it straight in off a technical face-off win. Each team added one more goal before the end of the quarter. The Braves continued to lead 8-4 at the end of three quarters.
In the fourth, Canandaigua scored the first two goals with a straight dodge from the top by Johnson and an open net goal by Scheetz when Niskayuna was attempting a take-away. The final goal of the game was scored by Niskayuna with Dan McKinney scoring during man-up (assisted by Mark Panneton). Stefan Sloma played the entire game in the cage for Niskayuna and finished the game with 6 saves.
Franze led in shooting for the Silver Warriors with 13 shots, 7 on cage and 1 goal. Niskayuna took a total of 23 shots. The Braves took 29 shots that were spread out. Johnson led with 7 shots, 4 on cage and 3 goals. Johnson was also the ground ball leader with 11. Collin Peck (4), Scharr (3) and Scheetz (3) also led for the Braves. Ryan Alden (3), Franze (2) and Steve Abba (2) led for the Silver Warriors.
Scoring for Canandaigua were Johnson (3g-1a), Alves (1g-2a), Scheetz (2g-1a), Will Johnson (1g), Gannon Osborn (1g), Tom LaCrosse (1g), Brandon Thomson (1g) and Scharr (1a).
Scoring for Niskayuna were Mark Panneton (1g-1a), Jared Franze (1g-1a), Dan McKinney (1g), Ryan Alden (1g) and Guy Waltman (1g).
For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full statistics.
West Islip 10 - Orchard Park 5
-- Orchard Park started strong but West Islip scored seven unanswered goals to win 10-5. The Lions were led by Nicky Galasso who scored 4 goals and 4 assists. Galasso was named the Class A Most Valuable Player. The Defensive Player of 
the game was awarded to Scott Mattera of West Islip. Jeff Tundo finished the game with 4 goals and 1 assist for the Quakers, and had a hand in all of the Orchard Park goals.
Sean Rimmer scored the first goal of the game for Orchard Park, and the only goal not scored by Tundo. Rimmer scored after Tundo passed him the ball on a cross-crease feed. West Islip came back with two goals of their own before the end of the quarter with Bryan Badolato scoring from an outside shot (assisted by Galasso). The latter goal was scored by Galasso with an assist from Ian Braddish. With 0:08 remaining in the first quarter Jeff Tundo scored his first goal with a drive from behind the cage and a low shot past Ryan Zaremba. Zaremba finished the game at 55% with six saves. The first quarter ended 2-2.
The second quarter saw Orchard Park take a two goal lead with Tundo adding two more unassisted goals. He scored the first from a drive behind the cage and the second with a drive from the top of the restraining line. Tundo's third goal was scored with 3:49 remaining in the second quarter. They did not score again for twenty minutes and three quarters. The Quakers led 4-2 before the Lions started their scoring streak. The Lions added two more goals before the end of the quarter with Galasso assisting two goals. The first goal was scored off a broken clear and subsequent inside fast-break with Shane Craig scoring the goal. The third tying goal of the game was scored with 0:16 remaining in the first half with Andrew Hodgson scoring off a feed from Galasso from behind the cage. The score was once again tied at the end of the second quarter, 4-4.
In the third quarter the Lions did not give up scoring the only four goals of the quarter and continuing their scoring streak. Hodgson added his second goal in a row with a straight drive from the top. The next two goals were both scored during fast-break situations with Galasso netting both goals. Badolato and Long stick Jerry Nobile assisting the two goals. 
The final goal of the third quarter was scored by Badolato with Galasso assisting. The Lions led 8-4 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter the Lions scored the first goal and the last goal with the Quakers adding the one goal in the center. Tundo scored his last goal, once again unassisted at 7:04. Tundo finished with six shots, five on cage and four unassisted goals. West Islip saw scoring from Badolato and Nick Cestaro with assists from Braddish and Mike Sagl. In the cage, Ryan Cole played the entire game for the Quakers and finished at 53% with 11 saves.
At the face-off both Mike Moran of Orchard Park and Conor Braddish of West Islip were over 50%; Moran finished 10/19 and Braddish finished 9/18. Andrew Hodgson led in shooting for the Lions with 14 shots and 5 on cage. Galasso had 9 shots with 5 on cage and Badolato had 8 shots with 6 on cage.
Scoring for West Islip were Nicky Galasso (4g-4a), Bryan Badolato (3g-1a), Andrew Hodgson (2g), Ian Braddish (2a), Shane Craig (1g), Jerry Nobile (1a) and Mike Sagi (1a).
Scoring for Orchard Park were Jeff Tundo (4g-1a) and Sean Rimmer (1g).
For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full statistics.
-- Manhasset came out strong, scoring the first five goals of the game and holding off a late string by LaFayette 
to win the Class C State Championship 16-11. This was the third win for the Indians, who last won in 2004. Connor English, of Manhasset, was named the Most Valuable Player for the Championship game after scoring nine goals. John Duvnjak was named the Defensive Player of the game.
Manhasset's scoring came early with three unanswered goals in the first quarter. Drew Belinsky scored the game opener with a straight drive from the top after a reset. English added the last two goals of the first quarter with two nearly identical outside shots. The first came during man-up with an assist from Jeff Molinari. The ball came from behind the cage to the top, and then back down to English on the right flank. The latter goal, scored two minutes later and during full strength was scored the same way with Molinari assisting again. The first quarter ended with the score 3-0 Manhasset.
Manhasset continued with the first two goals of the second quarter. The first goal was scored during a fast break. Glenn Tompkins picked up the ground ball at the midfield line and passed it up to Kevin Heenan. Heenan looked around and fed it back to Tompkins who had continued his cut. Tompkins added his second goal of the game only 1:10 later with an outside shot from the top 
left (assisted by Molinari). LaFayette scored their first goal with 6:01 remaining in the second quarter when Miles Thompson drove from behind the cage. The second LaFayette goal was scored by Lyle Thompson and assisted by Miles Thompson. The Thompsons combined on five goals. LaFayette and Manhasset continued trading goals for the remainder of the quarter and the first half ended with a Manhasset goal with 0:27 remaining. The goal was scored by English unassisted. The first half ended 8-4.
Manhasset came out strong again in the third quarter and scored four straight unanswered goals. With 5:53 remaining the Indians led 12-4 and looked to be in solid control of the game. LaFayette, not be stopped, came back and scored the next three goals of the third quarter to bring the game to 12-7. The scoring from LaFayette was from Gehnew Printup (assisted by John Greeley), and then Thompsons. The former goal was scored by Miles and assisted by Lyle and the latter goal was scored by Lyle and assisted by Miles.
The fourth quarter began with three more LaFayette goals to bring the game within two, 12-10. Lyle Thompson added two more goals with Miles adding two assists. Printup added the third goal for the Lancers. With 11:06 remaining in the game the Lancers were as close as they would get to a Championship. Manhasset scored the 
next three and four of the final five goals. Three of the final five goals were scored by English. The final LaFayette goal was scored by Printup with an assist from Greeley at 8:10 remaining in the game.
The game demonstrated the height of NYS lacrosse with both teams having strong individual and team performances. The Lancers, even in defeat, played one of the strongest games of the season to finish 23-1. Jack Meyer played the entire game for Manhasset and finished with six saves, while Chris Klaiber played the entire game for LaFayette and had 8 saves. LaFayette's Lyle Thompson finished with 55% at the face off (10/18).
Scoring for Manhasset were Connor English (9g), Glenn Tompkins (2g-2a), Jeff Molinari (1g-3a), Jeff Izzo (2g), Zac Koufakis (1g-1a), Drew Belinsky (1g), Kevin Heenan (1a) and Pat Moroney (1a).
Scoring for LaFayette were Lyle Thompson (5g-2a), Miles Thompson (3g-4a), Gehnew Printup (3g) and John Greeley (2a).
For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full statistics.
