Vikes survive injuries to get back on track

By: Lance Manion
   If Mark Ziminski discovered one thing from the South Brunswick boys lacrosse team’s season opener, it was to expect the unexpected this spring.
   "When Kory went down, this team could’ve used that as an excuse to pack it in," Ziminski said, referring to the season-ending knee injury to star attack Kory Kelly in the opening-day victory over East Brunswick last month. "They’ve done a nice job playing through that adversity."
   Adversity also might best describe what Ziminski has been going through in recent weeks as he’s had to fill out a lineup card without knowing who’s healthy on a daily basis.
   "It’s been a crazy couple of weeks," the coach said. "Basically, we had a virus run through the entire team so for a couple of games we were down four players. That obviously had an affect on our depth in certain areas."
   That affect, however, didn’t show on the scoreboard as the Vikings have reeled off four straight wins to improve to 9-2 and climb back into the race for the Greater Middlesex Conference regular-season championship.
   On Tuesday, juniors Theo Smyk and Chris Laurita each score three goals to propel South Brunswick to an 8-4 win over Old Bridge. Shane Foley contributed two goals and two assists, while Kevin Lally dished out three assists for the Vikings, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. Laurita, a junior attack, has been on a roll of late with 13 goals in his past four games and leads all scorers in Middlesex County with 28 goals and 19 assists for the season.
   The winning streak, according to Ziminski, has "been a matter of us getting off to a better start defensively."
   "In losses against St. Joseph’s and North Brunswick," he added, "we gave up three goals right out of the chute, but lately we’ve done a better job controlling the tempo in the beginning of games."
   Ziminski attributes that to his defense not being "too predictable" as well as a "more aggressive approach."
   "We’ve varied our strategies from man-to-man to zone and the guys have done a good job of not relying on trying to take the ball away, but rather playing unselfishly in the team concept," said Ziminski, who credited Andrew Fellouris, Jeff White, James Jackson, Chris Ciabattone and goalie Luke Zabel for the defensive resurgence.
   After rolling by J.P. Stevens 18-1 last week, the Vikings got past Jefferson, 10-7, in non-conference play on Saturday. Smyk led the way with four goals, while Lally chipped in with three goals and three assists in the win.
   Despite the recent winning streak, Ziminski believes his team "still hasn’t put together a very good 48-minute game." Still, the Vikings are very much in contention for a GMC crown, with a rematch against conference-leader St. Joseph’s looming.
   "I think the door is still open for us a make a run at a divisional championship," Ziminski said.