Defense makes difference for North lacrosse

Petrone, Knights see results in latest win

By: Justin Feil
   The West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys’ lacrosse team has seen quite a difference between its wins and its losses.
   In its three wins, the Knights have allowed a total of 11 goals. In its three losses, that number jumps to 37. In coming through two of those struggles, however, the Knights are moving closer to being the sort of defensive unit they want to be.
   "Seeing Montgomery, they’re one of the top teams in the state, and Hillsborough, it’s good to get some experience from those games," said WW-P North defenseman Chris Petrone. "I’m seeing more experienced players and getting more experience for myself to take with me through the season.
   "Playing those tough teams, defensively it’s tough. Every person on the offense is an athlete and they’re moving all the time. It’s tough defensively. "
   Petrone comes into his senior year with plenty of experience already under his belt. He has played close defense for the Knights, and also dabbled as longstick midfielder, a position he played some due to injury as WW-P North won its second straight game since a loss to MHS, 6-3, over Allentown on Wednesday to return to .500. The Knights also defeated Robbinsville, 13-2, Monday.
   "I definitely think coming right off the Montgomery game, we came out stronger," Petrone said. "We were ready for not as great players as Montgomery has with Robbinsville, but we were ready for what they gave us."
   The Knights followed that win with a win over previously 4-1 Allentown on Wednesday. In that game, WW-P North got two goals apiece from A.J. Reichert, John Feuerstein and Ryan Worrall. Pat Wade made 10 saves in goal.
   "It was a little closer than I had hoped it would be," said Knights head coach Steve Czelusniak, whose team plays at Pennington today. "They’re a nice team. They have four wins under their belt. I still think not that we should have blown them away, but should have scored a few more goals on them."
   And when the offense doesn’t capitalize as much as expected, it’s good to have a strong defense to fall back on. The Knights hope that their defense is solidifying with a veteran group.
   "We’ve been together for a long time," Petrone said. "Most of us have played together since middle school. It’s me, (Joe) Moore, (Dan) Devery, (Dave) Korsen, and Wade has been goalie since middle school. We’ve been playing with each other for a long time. We feel good about having all of us there.
   "Last year, I mostly played longstick middie. This year, they needed a little more help on close defense. I could play wherever needed. Our longstick middie, Brad States, got injured, so I’ve been taking over that role right now. That’s why I’m playing more middie. I like close defense a little more. I like staying on those attackman more than running on and off the field."
   Next year, Petrone will try out for the Kean University men’s lacrosse team, where he hopes to stick as either a close defense or longstick middie. For now, he’s trying to raise the level of play for the Knights as one of the team captains.
   "We didn’t lose a lot of seniors last year," he said. "We had a pretty good feeling about coming in. We all have a lot of varsity experience. We felt we could have a good team if we beat the teams we should and upset some teams that are beatable.
   "It definitely gives us more confidence going into the next couple games," he added of the last two wins. "We have two more wins and are back to .500 and can keep going forward with practice and staying together."
   He sees Pennington as a good test of where the Knights are, as they figure to be a step above Allentown, but not at the level of a Montgomery or Hillsborough. Those losses could end up helping the Knights.
   "Hillsborough and Montgomery, your weaknesses get exposed," Czelusniak said. "Then you play some more competitive games and see what you can do. You get a little confidence and get some good play under your belt. When you go up against the better teams, you hope to have some confidence under your belt. Hopefully that will carry over to the games we have coming up."
   His defense has been tested in the toughest games, and the close defense has been good led by Petrone. The Knights have worked on the full team approach.
   "You play a team like Montgomery and they have five or six kids who can handle the ball and run with it well," Czelusniak said. "One of the things that changed things in the second half, they have some great players in the midfield and they scored a lot from the midfield. The close defense did OK. Our midfielders didn’t do the job against their middies. The same thing against Hillsborough. Against good teams, you make a mistake and more often than not, they’ll make a goal off it.
   "We’re improving. We’re playing better. We’re still making mistakes that good teams will cash in on."
   Eliminating those mistakes will go a long way in helping WW-P North push toward the state tournament. Petrone is hoping the Knight defense can do its part until the offense finds its gear.
   "There’s a little extra pressure on us," he said. "Sometimes our offense doesn’t score as many as it should. To keep us in the game, our defense has to play its best game to give us a chance of winning."
   Added Czelusniak: "It’s tough playing defense. You don’t get all the stats in the papers. Chris Petrone does a lot for us. He does a pretty good job for us. We have him play some longstick midfield and up at the faceoff. He’s a solid player who’s helping us wherever he can.
   "I look at in the last couple games, Dan Devery, he’s making more smart, good plays. Joe Moore usually plays pretty solid for us. Besides playing good defense, he does a good job helping us clear. We try to get him open. He scored a goal for us against Robbinsville running down the field. He has good stick skills. And Pat Wade has been really good in goal. He made six saves in the first quarter against PDS or they could have been up on us a lot. He’s been solid."
   WW-P North has done a better job in recent games of preventing goals. It’s led to back-to-back wins over Robbinsville and Allentown.
   "We felt pretty confident because we heard they played pretty much the same teams we beat pretty fairly," Petrone said. "We felt pretty confident going into the game that we could come out on top. We have had a tough schedule so far. With a couple games that are winnable we finally got back to .500."
   The Knight boys are hoping to keep it going from there, and Chris Petrone and the defense will play a key role in continuing to keep opposing defenses down, and open up the possibility for further wins.