Lupo twice as nice for Pirates

WW-PS boys’ lacrosse tops North behind sophomore’s goal, assists

By: Justin Feil
   Jon Lupo thought he’d assisted on the winning goal when he fed Mike Malec to give the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys’ lacrosse team a 10-9 lead over West Windsor-Plainsboro North with barely a minute to play.
   Instead, he had to provide the game-winning goal himself after the Knights got their only goal in the final 14 minutes when the ball slid out of WW-PS goaltender Adam Ferrante’s crosse. Lupo did just that 36 seconds into overtime when he came around the back right side of the goal for a score that touched off a wild celebration in an 11-10 WW-PS victory.
   "This is the biggest goal of my career," said Lupo, a sophomore, who had two goals and assisted the final two Pirate goals in regulation. "It’s so much more because it’s against North. I can’t explain how happy our program is, and I felt really good for Adam."
   Ferrante’s mistake was forgotten amid his 10 saves and fourth-quarter shutout of the Knights after WW-PN had taken an 8-4 lead midway through the third quarter. But from there, it was all Pirates, as they scored seven of the next nine goals to improve to 12-3 this season.
   "We learned from what we did against Princeton. We got down and stayed down," said WW-PS head coach Kerry Weigner, whose team opens the state tournament Wednesday at 29th-seeded St. Joseph’s, one of the three teams it lost to this year. "We weren’t going to do that today. We told them that we were going to go one goal at a time to fight back."
   The Pirates’ rally left them with just two losses in the Bianchi Division, tied with WW-PN and Hun, whom they defeated three days earlier. Princeton High, with one division loss, clinched the Bianchi Division with a 14-4 win over Princeton Day School on Friday.
   "If you can’t win it, you might as well be the spoiler," Weigner said. "The coaches, Bryan Fisher and Ken Graziano, and I, we sat down (Friday night) and were all focused on what we had to do and we got the kids to believe in what we were talking about.
   "We were in the game against St. Joe’s and in the game against CBA, but we threw the ball away and missed a lot of our chances. The last couple games, we started a motto that every possession, on offense and defense, means something. You have to live like it’s your last. We’ve been better since that."
   The Pirates seemed to bring those words out in the fourth quarter. In a game of runs, they had the last one. Malec’s goal with four seconds to go in the third quarter was the first of what essentially was five straight goals by the Pirates to erase WW-PN’s lead and end the game.
   "I was a little worried," said Lupo of being down, 8-4. "But our defense is what carried us all season. They stopped them on key possessions."
   Ferrante came up with two point-blank saves in the final five minutes of the game to key the run. And on the offensive end, WW-PS finally found its scoring touch after it misfired on several connections earlier in the contest.
   "There are situations that you look for when you can go," Lupo said. "But we just came to a point where we couldn’t wait to get the perfect matchup anymore. There was a point where we just needed goals.
   "As soon as we started to come back, we noticed they started to hang their heads. Once the momentum shifted, it was all us."
   And with the way the Pirates were playing, there was no reversing it. The Knights never could get back that last run to seal it. But part of the problem perhaps was that the Knights were trying too hard for that one goal that would put the game out of reach.
   "What happened in the fourth quarter," said WW-PN head coach Neil Brown. "is we showed an enormous amount of impatience. One of the themes of this team has always been the team that controls the tempo controls the game. South gave us a great lesson in controlling the game.
   "When you’re ahead by two goals with 12 minutes, you shouldn’t be rushing. But our impatience and some overconfidence that other guys were showing contributed to a change in the momentum."
   North, which fell to 9-5 overall, looks to put its loss behind it when it hosts 42nd-seeded New Egypt at Chamberlain Field today in the state tournament. The Knights are the 23rd seed. PHS, the 15th seed, will host 50-seeded Camden Catholic this afternoon at 4 p.m.
   "We are extremely disappointed to lose the Bianchi," Brown said. "But the kids know that the most important game is the next one. We just have to look ahead to states and refocus."
   As for the Pirates, they hope to parlay the strength of their strong regular-season finish into a state tournament run. WW-PS is seeded 36th, and lost by a goal to St. Joe’s early in the season.
   "Coach always said that we were going to win a big game," Lupo said. "And then when we beat Hun, he said we were going to win two. This is giving us confidence going into states.
   "This is the best we’ve played in the past two years. We didn’t lose too many seniors from last year and we’ve been working hard and it’s really paying off. All the seniors know this is their last chance. I’m just happy to contribute."
   And for the South seniors, having Lupo’s contributions, especially against a rival like WW-P North, only makes the year more enjoyable. Now, the task becomes trying to make the season a special one in the states.
   "We were happy to be in states last year," Weigner said. "We’re happy to be there this year, but this one means a lot more to us because we’re playing a team we lost to early in the season."
   But, as WW-P South learned Saturday, it’s not how you start a game, but how you finish, that is remembered most.