By Jimmy Allinder
For years, opponents considered a match with the East Brunswick High School boys’ lacrosse team an automatic win.
That’s not the case anymore.
The Bears were 6-0 (8-2 overall) and tied with Monroe Township High School (8-1 overall) for first place in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) standings before the teams clashed April 25.
To include East Brunswick in the discussion of top GMC teams is an indication the program has been turned upside down, which is really right side up. The most obvious difference with the Bears is the quality of the talent pool.
Incoming players are not only outstanding athletes, but they are also more skilled. Coupled with a strong work ethic cultivated by coach Rory Murray, the result is a team that is no longer the GMC’s doormat.
East Brunswick is strong at all positions, but paramount is its ability to score. Before the Monroe match, the Bears already topped last season’s 131 goals by 13. With an average of 14.4 goals a game, the Bears are on a pace to surpass 2016’s 198 goals in four or fewer matches.
As for the personnel, seven letter winners were lost to graduation, but 11 are back. The starting lineup is young but extremely talented.
Leading the scoring is senior attack Thomas Bahmer with 34 goals, 18 assists and 35 ground balls. Next is sophomore midfielder Sean Kelliher with 15 goals, 15 assists and 60 ground balls. Junior midfielders Timmy Smith (16 goals, 18 assists, 39 ground balls) and Jack Solimini (18 goals, five assists), sophomore attack Tim Gudzak (18 goals, 14 assists) and senior attack Michael Thomas (15 goals, 13 assists) have also contributed to the scoring parade.
Murray expected the defense to be strong, and it has yielded 9.1 goals per game. Junior Robert Duncan is joined by senior Jake Mecca and sophomores Stephen Berman, Christian Perrine and Nick Randzio to form a solid backline. Sophomore Brian McDonald has been in goal for most games and is backed by junior Christian Tarnofsky.
Newcomers include sophomore long stick midfielders Josh Green and Joseph DeGuida, regular midfielders J.T. Serrao and Bradley MacNiven and attack Mike Bahmer.
“We’re young [again], but we return eight starters, so there’s no reason we can’t continue to improve,” Murray said. “We’ll continue to rely on Thomas [Bahmer] and Mike [Thomas] to lead our offense and Timmy [Smith] and Sean [Kelliher] to keep our midfield steady. Robert [Duncan] is the anchor of our defense, which has been working extremely hard.
“Our objectives in the conference are two-fold. We want to improve last year’s record (5-4) and make it to the tournament finals.”