Hopewell Valley boys lacrosse
By: Mike Molaro
After what must’ve seemed like an eternity, the Hopewell Valley Central High School boys lacrosse squad finally opened its season Tuesday.
Following three consecutive postponements because of rain (at Kinnelon) and a home wet playing field (North Hunterdon and Princeton), the Bulldogs were emotionally charged for their first game and blew out visiting Ewing 17-1.
"We came out fired up," HoVal coach Rob Siris said. "The guys had been waiting for the season opener for a long time. We had to wait 10 days to finally play our first game."
Senior attacker Pete Carroll fueled the onslaught with six goals and three assists, senior midfielder Tyler Brewster added two goals and four assists, sophomore attacker Eric Doran had two goals and three assists, sophomore midfielder Mark Squicciarino had a goal and three assists, junior attacker Greg Redding added three goals, and senior midfielder John Squicciarino had two goals and an assist. Sophomore goalie Kris Ryan, a converted midfielder, made four saves in the Bulldog nets.
"We scored a lot of goals early," Siris said. "We came out pretty hard and excited to finally play."
In addition to the challenging recent weather, the Bulldogs have had to combat the roller coaster of emotions.
"Morale was down after the North Hunterdon game was postponed," Siris said. "We had a good practice last Friday to get ready for Princeton but then that game was cancelled on Saturday. Instead of practicing Saturday, we had a 5-on-5 basketball game to lighten things up.
"We had a real good practice on Monday, and we came out fired up and ready to play against Ewing. Our stick skills have been improving a lot, but you need game situations. You can only do so much in practice."
Things pick up for the Bulldogs as they visit cross-town rival Pennington on Saturday, host Princeton next Monday and East Brunswick next Tuesday, and visit Lawrence next Thursday.
"We are definitely looking forward to playing regularly and getting into a rhythm," Siris said. "The guys want to show what they can do."

