By Jim Hintelmann
LITTLE SILVER – The Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) lacrosse team might not be as talented as some of its predecessors, but the Colts still get the job done.
For the second week in a row, the Colts staged a fourth-quarter rally to defeat a local rival. The first was against Red Bank Catholic when they rallied from a two-goal deficit to win the game, 10-8.
CBA (10-2, 9-0) was in a similar situation Saturday, May 3, trailing Red Bank Regional, 9-7, early in the fourth quarter, before it scored four straight goals, three of them by Matt McGuiness, to stun the Bucs 11-9 in an A North battle.
“It seems like we make mistakes and struggle for three quarters,” CBA coach Dave Santos said, “but then we turn it on and light up the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.”
Losing 7-5, Red Bank rallied in the third quarter on goals by Dan Vilardi, Karl Hottmann, George Zackman – who was brilliant in defeat with five goals and two assists – and Jake Smolokoff, giving the Bucs a 9-7 edge.
McGuiness scored his first goal early in the final quarter, and then scored the tying and go-ahead goals in a 14-second span (4:38 and 4:24). Freshman Nick Casner tallied an insurance goal with 3:26 remaining.
CBA’s defense also tightened in the fourth quarter, not allowing Red Bank (10-5, 6-3) another shot on goal.
“We had a major penalty called on us in the fourth quarter and that put us down,” Red Bank coach Dom Femminella said. “CBA must have scored two goals in those 2 minutes.
“We’ve been up and down this season but have improved dramatically since the start of the season. We just have to finish games.”
“I had a 2-minute high-stick penalty called against me in the third quarter,” said McGuiness, who will be playing lacrosse at the University of Virginia next season. “That was a momentum changer since Red Bank was able to put in two goals.”
CBA kept its composure, however, and came right back with its game-winning fourth quarter comeback.
“Our offense has the capacity to score a lot of goals, so we weren’t too worried when we were down two goals,” McGuiness said.
“Mike is the type of kid who is a leader,” Santos said. “He is a senior who steps up in the big moments.”
The game was evenly played throughout with Zackman opening the scoring with the first of his five goals, but Casner and Tom Deiner tallied for a 2-1 CBA lead.
Zackman tied it with his second goal. The game was tied three more times before Red Bank seemed to get control of the game with its four-goal streak in the third quarter, but it couldn’t hold the lead.
“We have a good senior class,” Santos said, “but we haven’t really gelled yet. We haven’t played cleanly for 48 minutes but we hope to stop making mistakes and be ready for the Shore Conference Tournament.”
