By: Carolyn M. Hartko
The South Brunswick High School boys’ lacrosse team recorded another high-scoring victory on Tuesday, taking a 12-7 decision at Rutgers Prep.
This was also another game that ended up far different than early play suggested. The two sides were tied 2-2 after the first quarter, and Rutgers (2-4) pulled ahead 5-4 during the second. But The Vikings (5-2) notched two more goals late in the period, taking a 6-5 lead at the half.
South Brunswick came back from the break ready to play, and netted four goals in the third quarter, three of them off the stick of sophomore attacker Kory Kelly. Rutgers picked up just one in that period, and added another in the fourth. Kelly scored again in the fourth, bringing his tally for the day to six. Dan Niemczyk netted a hat trick, and Ian Muchanic and Kevin Lally added a goal apiece. Pete Saragnese posted two assists. South also got the benefit of an own goal.
"In the second half, we played much better," Viking head coach Mark Ziminski said. "We had some trouble covering guys off the crease. That’s something we’re still working on in practice. But hopefully, we’ll straighten that out."
South Brunswick has two losses so far this season, and both were overtime games where the opponent scored a golden goal in the closing seconds of the first overtime period. Both were also cases where the opponent came from behind to send the game into overtime.
Last Friday, it was North Brunswick that nipped the Vikings 6-5 on an Anthony Scimone goal four seconds from the whistle. The Vikings were leading the Raiders 4-0 at halftime, and were still on top 5-3 early in the fourth quarter. North cut the lead to 5-4, and with 5:40 left in regulation, Jimmy Curran knotted the score, setting the scene for overtime.
"I just think we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities," Ziminski said. "The fact that they came back is not a surprise. It’s very difficult to shut a team out for a whole game. So the fact that they came back was not as problematic as the fact that we had an extra-man opportunity with one minute left in the game, and we threw the ball out-of-bounds. We had four shots on goal in overtime two very good shots and we just didn’t put them in the goal."
North Brunswick is a program on the rise, and this is the first time that the Raiders have beaten the Vikings.
"When you’re playing a quality opponent and it’s a tight game, you have to step up and make plays," Ziminski continued. "Granted, they came back against us, but that’s because they really stepped up their game and I give them credit for that. But, we also had chances to win the game at the end, and we just didn’t rise to the occasion, and that hurt us."
There are a few schedule changes for the Vikings this week. Saturday’s game at Freehold Township has been cancelled because Freehold has to make up a Shore Conference game. The game at Notre Dame, originally scheduled for Apr. 29, has been moved to tomorrow afternoon (Friday) to avoid a conflict with ND’s prom. The Vikings will host Somerville next Tuesday.

