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Big Hearts for the Big City

RANDOLPH — Lacrosse players from as many as 26 youth programs across Northern New Jersey have been given the honor of carrying Sgt. James Regan’s lacrosse stick during Saturday’s Big City Stick Run. The charity event that will be held prior to the Big City Classic college lacrosse tripleheader at the Meadowlands involves a 14.2 mile run from the World Trade Center site through the Lincoln Tunnel to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

Once the stadium is reached, the stick will be transferred to players from Special Angels Recreation. Special Angels is a recreation program that caters to children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome and other developmental disabilities. The Special Angels will present the game ball to the officials just prior to the first game between University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia.

“I’m honored to honor Sergeant Regan,” 14-year-old Randolph lacrosse player Jack Margiotta said. “He helped us with his service in the army to let us play every day in Randolph.”

Margiotta was chosen as a representative for the Randolph youth program. Programs belonging to the New Jersey Junior Lacrosse League agreed to participate in the event in January. Afterwards the runners will attend the college lacrosse tripleheader which starts at noon and features University of North Carolina vs. University of Virginia, Princeton vs. defending national champion Syracuse and Hofstra University vs. University of Delaware.

In the early morning hours about 50 runners that will meet in front of Midieval Times in Lyndhurst, jump in busses and head for New York City. The event is a rolling caravan with a police escort. Each runner will run about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile before handing off to the next. Finished runners will be picked up by a trailing bus.

Many of the runners were already familiar with Regan’s story before hearing about the event. Regan grew up in Manhasset and played high school lacrosse at Chaminade High School. He played collegiately for three seasons at Duke University. He played midfield on two teams that won Atlantic Coast Conference titles and another that reached the NCAA semifinals.

He enlisted into the Army in 2004 and in three years earned a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and several other medals marking his service in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 26-year-old soldier was killed on February 9, 2007 in Northern Iraq of wounds he suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle while on combat patrol. He was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

“I’m just really honored to run with Sgt. Regan’s stick,” Margiotta said.

 

 

 

Lions on a Rampage

TCNJ Lacrosse

EWING –

 

 

The College of New Jersey women’s lacrosse team remained undefeated on the season as the Lions defeated visiting Drew University by the score of 18-5 on Tuesday.

The win puts the Lions at 7-0 on the season, while the Rangers dropped to 3-6. TCNJ raced out to an 11-1 lead by the half and then held off a surge by Drew in the early stages of the second frame that saw the Rangers get to within 12-5. The Lions responded by scoring the game’s final six goals to close out the win.

Sophomore Alison Jaeger (Hampton/North Hunterdon) had another big game with seven goals and eight points, while senior Katie Reuther (Toms River/Toms River) picked up three goals and four assists. Freshman Kathleen Notos (Pennsauken/Camden Catholic) added to the win with three goals, while Robin Deehan (Morris Plains/Academy of St. Elizabeth) chipped in with a goal and three assists.

Drew helps Leanos win 200th

Drew's Tom Leanos

MADISON

– Sean McNulty scored the golden goal as Drew men’s lacrosse secured a 7-6 win at Catholic on Saturday March 28 and gave Drew’s Head Coach Tom Leanos his 200th career win.

 

Jon Bucknam scored midway through the fourth period to force overtime before McNulty’s unassisted winner gave Drew its fourth consecutive win and a 2-0 record in the Landmark Conference.

 

Senior netminder Mike Celentano had another good game in goal for the Rangers with seven saves.

 

Leanos has recorded 179 wins at Drew in 21 seasons. Prior to his time with the Rangers, he posted a 21-24 record at Southhampton College. Three times he has been named his conference’s Coach of the Year.

 

At the beginning of the season, he was ranked 8th in Division III in wins among active coaches and 14th all-time. His .544 winning percentage ranks him 38th among active and 45th all-time.

Princeton Survives JMU

Women's Lacrosse

HARRISONBURG, Va.

– Senior Christine Casaceli matched her personal best with a five-point effort to lead the No. 9-ranked Princeton women’s lacrosse team to a 13-11 win over No. 16 James Madison on Wednesday, March 18. The Tigers got goals from seven different players and the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week sophomore goalkeeper Erin Tochihara made 12 saves, including holding JMU to 0-for-3 shooting from the eight-meter arc.

 

Sophomore Lizzy Drumm had two goals and two assists, while senior Holly McGarvie had one of each. Junior Kristin Morrison and senior Kristin Schwab scored two goals apiece and senior Katie Cox collected two assists. Princeton improves to 4-1 on the season.

 

Kim Griffin led the Dukes with six points, scoring five goals and adding an assist. Jaime Dardine and Mary Kate Lomady each collected four points. JMU falls to 5-2.

  

Lomady and Dardine each tallied unassisted goals to bring the Dukes within one, 12-11, with 4:19 to play, but the Tigers held on.

 

JMU had a 12-6 edge in ground balls, a 14-12 advantage in draw controls and had two more caused turnovers than the Tigers. Princeton cleared on 13 of its 14 attempts and went 2-for-2 off of free-position shots. JMU went 10-for-11 on clearing attempts and was 0-for-3 on free-position shots.

Even Stevens Falls to Endicott

Stevens Men's Lacrosse

HOBOKEN

– The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s lacrosse team scored the game’s final five goals, but it was not enough as the Ducks fell to No. 6 Endicott College, 11-9 on Wednesday night at the De Baun Athletic Complex in Hoboken. A dominant third quarter by the Gulls (5-0) extended a two-goal halftime lead to six, and the Ducks could never recover.

Stevens (3-3) was led by three tallies from senior midfielder Alex Heckmanand two goals and an assist from seniors Matt Keating and J. R. Oreskovich. The Gulls were keyed by four goals from senior Nick Cosco (Londenderry, N.H.) and two scores and four assists from senior Brandon Dube (Danvers, Mass.).

Dube scored 47 seconds into the fourth quarter to give Endicott its largest lead of the contest at 11-4, and it looked like the Gulls had taken all the life out of the Ducks. From that point on however, it was all Stevens as Keating started the rally with unassisted goal with 12:16 left. Sophomore midfielder Chris Laurita brought the Ducks to within five 47 ticks later, and Keating then put away a nice feed from Oreskovich with 9:48 left.

Heckman and senior Eric Smith hooked up with 5:45 to go to make the score 11-8, and Heckman fired home a laser to pull the Ducks within two with 2:04 showing on the clock.

Face-offs were a huge reason why the Gulls came out on top. They won 19-of-24 on the night and won several key ones late to secure the win.

UMBC Stops Rutgers Men

Men's Lacrosse

BALTIMORE, Md. –

The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but a potent UMBC offensive attacked proved to be too much as the Scarlet Knights fell 17-10 to the nationally-ranked Retrievers Saturday afternoon at UMBC Stadium.

Sophomore Kory Kelly (Princeton) scored a career-high tying four goals and senior Jeff Rommel (Syracuse, N.Y.) tallied two goals and dished out two assists to lead Rutgers (1-2).

The Retrievers, ranked No. 9 in the latest Inside Lacrosse media poll, out-shot the Scarlet Knights 45-35 as they improve to 2-0 on the year. Peet Poillon recorded four goals to pace UMBC.

Mike Dugan (Summit) scored the first goal of the game just over a minute in and his score was immediately followed by two strikes from Kelly to give Rutgers a 3-0 lead at the 4:44 mark of the first quarter. Alex Hopmann scored UMBC’s only goal of the quarter at the 3:34 mark to cut RU’s lead to two at the end of the first stanza.

Rutgers started off the second quarter hot, as well as Dugan tallied his second goal of the game to push RU’s lead to three (4-1) just over two minutes into the second. UMBC would control the remainder of the quarter though, posting six of the next seven goals, including two from Kyle Wimer. The Retrievers would hold a 7-5 halftime lead.

UMBC would continue its momentum after the intermission, scoring five of the first six goals to begin the third quarter. Rommel netted his first goal of the day with 1:25 left in the third to bring RU to within five (12-7). The Retrievers would put the game out of reach to start the fourth though, scoring four consecutive goals. Brendan Porter (Maplewood), Rommel and Kelly would all score late in the fourth, but the Scarlet Knights would get no closer than six goals.

Junior midfielder Justin Pennington (Flemington), who led the team with three assists, failed to score for the first time this season. 

Sailer Honored for Lifetime Achievement

Princeton Women

PRINCETON, – Princeton University’s head women’s lacrosse coach Chris Sailer was awarded the Diane Geppi-Aikens Memorial Award at the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) honors banquet in Florida in December.

“Diane Geppi-Aikens was a close personal friend of mine, so winning the award that bears her name is especially meaningful to me,” Sailer said. “Di had such a zest for life, and she demonstrated remarkable courage, perseverance and strength, not only while battling her illness, but throughout her life. Her spirit lives on and inspires me to this day.”

The award is presented annually, recognizing lifetime achievement in contribution to women’s lacrosse. A three-time national championship coach, Sailer was most recently inducted into the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame.

In her 22 years as head coach at Princeton, Sailer has led the Tigers to 17 NCAA tournament appearances in which they’ve made the national semifinals 11 times. Princeton has gone to the tournament in each of the last 11 seasons. She has coached over 20 first-team All-Americans and eight Ivy League Players of the Year. Sailer has a 74.6 win percentage at Princeton with 282 career victories, which ranks second in the nation amongst action Division I coach. She has been named the national coach of the year three times and regional coach of the year six times.

Her other contributions to the sport of women’s lacrosse include: chair of the Tewaaraton Trophy selection committee, member of the IWLCA Board of Directors, sits on the US Lacrosse Women’s Division Board of Governors as the College Coaches Representative and is a former member of the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Committee.

Titans Succeed in Newark Debut

The New York Titans defeated the Boston Blazers 19-14 at Prudential Center in Newark on Saturday night. Casey Powell and Pat Maddalena each registered nine-point games for the Titans playing its first contest in Newark. Blazers rookie and top overall draft pick Daryl Veltman had a goal and six assists in his National Lacrosse League debut.

New York stormed out to a 5-1 lead in the first quarter on goals by Jordan Hall (2), Brendan Mundorf, Greg Peyser and Maddalena. Brendan Thenhaus scored the first goal for the Blazers on a power play with 7:49 remaining in the quarter. Dan Dawson assisted on the franchise’s first goal.

The teams basically played even the rest of the game. Both scored four goals in the second quarter, giving New York a 9-5 halftime lead.

Scoring really picked up in the third quarter, with the clubs combining for 14 goals, which was the combined total scored in the Toronto-Buffalo game (8-6 Buffalo). Powell registered the natural hat trick (three goals in the quarter). The Blazers got their offense going, as Dawson and Gary Bining scored two goals each in the frame.

In the fourth quarter, the Blazers got to within three as a Thenhaus goals made it 16-13 with eight minutes remaining. The Titans responded quickly with goals from Maddalena and Powell to secure the lead for good.

Blazers goaltender Anthony Cosmo, who saved 31 out of 49 shots faced. Matt Vinc made 33 saves on 47 shots faced for the Titans. New York improves to 1-1 on the season, while Boston is 0-1. The two teams face each other again next Saturday in Boston at TD Banknorth Garden in the Blazers’ inaugural season home game.

Mountain Lakes Standouts Make College Decisions

Mountain Lakes

MOUNTAIN LAKES — Chase Winter and Jake Tripucka have pretty much known where they were going to end up going to college for about a year now, and their Mountain Lakes High School teammate Greg DeLuca for at least six months or so, but their decisions weren’t made known except on an occasional Internet forum or perhaps a friend of a friend heard something.

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, the Lakers lacrosse trio put the whispers to rest and signed their National Letters of Intent. Winter is going to be attending Johns Hopkins University while Tripucka and DeLuca are looking forward to their futures as Duke Blue Devils.

 

All three along with UMass bound girls lacrosse standout Jordan Renna were recognized for their achievement during a gathering at Mountain Lakes High School in late November.

 

The boys are members of back-to-back state champion boys lacrosse teams and will be playing for the most prestigious and successful college lacrosse teams in the country. Both Duke and Johns Hopkins competed in last year’s NCAA Division I Final Four which was won by Syracuse University.

 

The chance to potentially compete with and against each other for national titles and also get a quality education in the bargain is something that doesn’t happen every day for one of the smallest public schools in Morris County.

 

“It’s cool to finally have something in writing and actually see it,” DeLuca said. “It’s pretty exciting. It also goes a long way in the national reputation of Mountain Lakes. You have all these kids going to DI schools. Not only are they making an impact in college but it also gives our high school national respect.”

 

All three were junior midfielders and strong contributors in the success of last year’s 22-1 boys lacrosse state championship team. Chase Winter (6-foot, 165) finished with 29 goals and 11 assists including four goals in a dramatic Group final against Chatham. Jake Tripucka (6-foot-1,195) finished with 15 goals and 13 assists and Greg DeLuca (6-foot, 190) played more of a defensive role and wasn’t needed to score as much but still contributed six goals and four assists.

 

“Jake and I had a good showing at the Blue Chip (summer) camp and that helped us,” Winter said. “But with the tradition here at Mountain Lakes with what Coach (Tim) Flynn has started. When I was little I looked up to (Joe) Cinosky who went to Maryland. We have a lot of top guys going to top programs.”

 

The Lakers have not sent a lacrosse player to JHU since Rich Schwester played in the mid 90’s. Winter is well aware of the school’s reputation in lacrosse circles.

 

“The coaching is great and the kids are great,” Winter said. “They have the same ideas. They always go out together. It’s similar to what we have at Mountain Lakes.”

 

Lacrosse is still in the background for now as all three of them are working to continue the Lakers football success. Mountain Lakes will play in a Group I state tournament sectional final on Friday at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

 

Jordan Renna also signed her National Letter of Intent to go to the University of Massachusetts. Renna was a standout midfielder for the Mountain Lakes girls team that had a solid Group I state tournament run and finished at 17-4.

 

This item was adapted from a published report.

Rutgers Women Pick Captains

Rutgers

PISCATAWAY –

Senior Michelle Poole (Long Valley) and juniors Faith Richards (Montclair) and Emily Penn (Medford), have been named team captains of the Rutgers women’s lacrosse team, head coach Laura Brand-Sias announced. The three were chosen after a team vote.

“Faith, Michelle and Emily will make excellent captains,” said Brand-Sias. “They will do an outstanding job leading this year’s team. All three of them define what this program strives for every day. They are hard workers, good students and positive people.”

 

Poole is in her second-consecutive season as team captain. In 2008 she tied her career-high with 20 goals, previously set in 2006 and 2007, and finished with a career-high seven assists. A midfielder who is a key figure to the Scarlet Knights’ offense and defense, she also recorded 24 ground balls, 12 draw controls and 11 caused turnovers. Poole has started 49 of her career 50 games.

 

Penn started at defense for all 17 games in 2008, recording a career-high 29 caused turnovers to lead the Scarlet Knights. She also led the team in ground balls with a career-high 38. The Medford native started 13 of 17 games in 2007, tallying 33 ground balls, 11 draw controls and nine caused turnovers.

 

A midfielder, Richards played her freshman season at Virginia Tech before transferring to Rutgers prior to last season. She started 15 of 17 games as a Hokie, recording 11 goals, seven assists, 15 ground balls, 12 draw controls and six caused turnovers. In her first season as a Scarlet Knight, the junior played in all 17 games, starting six. She tallied 20 ground balls, 10 caused turnovers and eight draw controls.

Rutgers media release.