Lacrosse team to face off against Lawrenceville on Tuesday.
By: Neil Hay
When longtime prep rivals Peddie and Lawrenceville met for the only time this season back in April, the Big Red came away with a 14-10 win.
Next Tuesday in Lawrenceville these teams will once again line up opposite each other. But this time more will be at stake. It will be the state Prep A boys’ lacrosse championship game. Number one against number two.
Top-seeded Lawrenceville is the defending Prep A champs. To take the crown away, "We will have to play a game with little or no mistakes. And we need to play with emotion.
"They are a hard read," said coach Tris Wood of his players. "Sometimes we are emotional and that is when we play our best lacrosse. When we play without emotion, that is when we tend to have a hard time. We have to be excited, intense, passionate. That’s the kind of emotion we need. The guys are looking forward to it. They feel we have a pretty good shot at it if we stick to the game plan."
And what is that game plan? Wood was keeping mum.
Peddie made finals with a 14-3 win at home over third-seeded Hun Monday. Said Wood, "We played a pretty good game. The first time we played Hun (a 15-10 win) we were not quite as sharp. This time we took a big early lead and wouldn’t let them back. I reminded the players several times" of how the first time they played Hun the Falcons took an early lead, only to relax and let Hun back in the game. "And we were mad about the Bridgewater game (a 14-5 loss). We didn’t want to repeat that."
Dave Bauer’s five goals sparked Peddie over Hun. Grayson Connors added three goals, Cooper Morris had two and solos were netted by Ryan Spitz, Joe Vansickle, Mike Cummins and C.J. DiNardi. Ryan Kaiser’s 18 saves stood up. Peddie doubled Hun’s shot totals, 42-21.
"Ryan Kaiser did a good job," noted Wood. "We did a good job with faceoffs. Doing a good job off the draw allowed us to get on offense quite a bit." While Wood can call on several players to take the draw, the primary guy against Hun was freshman midfielder Sean Stiefel, who won about seventy-five percent of the faceoffs he took.
"Sean has very quick hands and uses good strategy."
The win improved Peddie to 7-5. Hun, meanwhile, fell to 11-4. Asked about the disparity in the two teams’ records, given the final score in Monday’s semifinal game, Wood replied, "We play the top three teams in the state. They don’t."
Peddie’s schedule is loaded with top teams that include Mountain Lakes and Delbarton. Peddie plays in the tough Pitt Division, an amalgam of the best prep and public school teams that includes Lawrenceville, Hunterdon Central, Moorestown, Bridgewater-Raritan, North Hunterdon and Hillsborough. The Pitt is "A" division, signifying its strength. Playing in the Pitt can only make Peddie a tougher opponent come state tournament time.
On Wednesday Peddie defeated visiting Hillsborough, 10-1, to improve to 8-5. Spitz scored three times, Connors and Bauer (two assists) had two goals each, and John Kotsinonos, DiNardi, and Sean Ostrofe all had one. Mike Cummins collected four assists. In all Peddie had 45 shots, but connected on only 10.
"It was not a good shooting day for us," said Wood.
Goalie Dave Vafek faced only 13 shots and made 12 saves. Vafek also had a rare goalie assist when he brought the ball down field, ran a fast break and, when the defense went to him, dropped it off to DiNardi who scored.
Today the Falcons tune up for the Big Red with a game against Hunterdon Central. Wood is pleased to be playing Central at this point in the season.
"They have about the same record as we do. It should be even. It is what we need going into the Lawrenceville game."
Wood can only hope Saturday’s 14-5 loss at Bridgewater-Raritan is a distant memory. Said Wood, "We didn’t play with emotion. That’s it in a nutshell. They took it to us," as B-R led 5-0 after one period.
"We just got off the bus and I don’t think they wanted to be there. When they decided to play it was too late. Neither Vafek (five saves) nor Kaiser (six) looked particularly good. I can say that about everybody on the field except Bauer, who did a good job against their number one attacker (John Bilecki, two goals).
Cummins and Connors each had two goals, and Kotsinonos one, at Bridgewater-Raritan, which improved to 11-2.

