Cardinals earn first win against another new team

BOYS LACROSSE

By: Tim Falls
   Matt Watson knows there are some games the Lawrence boys lacrosse team must win.
   The game against Hightstown last Friday was one of them.
   "They should all be must-win games," said Watson, a junior attacker on the Cardinals’ lacrosse team. "We’re still a young team. You’re supposed to go into every game thinking you can win but when you’re a young team its tough."
   Lawrence, in its third year as a varsity program, finally saw a chance at victory against Hightstown in its first varsity season.
   The Cardinals defeated the Rams, 12-3, for their first win in almost two seasons. Lawrence went 0-9 last year.
   "That was huge to get that first win," said Watson. "Going in 0-8 and making in 1-8 was really important. At that point you never know when you’ll get that win."
   Dave Koellner scored four goals to lead Lawrence’s scoring against Hightstown, which dropped to 0-6 after the loss to the Cardinals.
   "Any win is big for this program," said coach Anthony Ammirata. "I know we didn’t take (Hightstown) for granted. We had to be at our best to beat them."
   Watson could empathize with the Rams. Both teams have taken their lumps from the more experienced programs they’ve faced.
   "They were in the same boat as we were," said Watson. "We were excited to play them. It was a must win for us."
   Watson scored three goals against the Rams, while Colin Anderson scored twice and Jim Gorski, Steve Sikora and Pete Boucher all tallied once.
   Lawrence saw another opportunity against New Egypt on Monday.
   Lawrence had played the Warriors on April 21 even though the Cardinals lost that game, 15-10, they thought they could fare better in their second showing.
   Unfortunately for the Cardinals, several penalties gave New Egypt an advantage they used in a 12-8 victory on Monday as Lawrence dropped to 1-9.
   "Penalties killed us," said Ammirata. "They’re a good team, and good teams capitalize on their opponents’ mistakes."
   Lawrence gave New Egypt more than a dozen opportunities to play with a man-up advantage as the Cardinals recorded 13 penalties to New Egypt’s six. Ammirata blamed the sloppy mistakes which left Lawrence short handed much too often.
   "They have some good players and we have some good players," said Ammirata. "If we possibly cut our penalties in half…"
   The score might have changed had Lawrence not committed so many fouls, but New Egypt retained the momentum with several clutch goals.
   The Warriors stopped Lawrence’s offensive surge with five goals in the second quarter, including a last-second goal at the end of the first half.
   Lawrence chopped at New Egypt’s lead in the second half and managed to match the Warriors goal-for-goal in the fourth quarter.
   "I think they just brought it early," said Watson. "We came back late. We couldn’t finish. Give us another quarter and we could have walked away with a win."
   Watson, Koellner and Dave Schindewolf all scored twice, while Boucher and Gorski each had a goal.
   Watson scored four goals in the first match-up between the two teams and Koellner had a hat trick.
   Lawrence was scheduled to play Moorestown Friends, another young program, yesterday and will face Notre Dame tomorrow.