It’s been an upset-ting week for several of the top teams in the LaxLessons.com regional rankings so far.
West Islip, Shoreham-Wading River and Rocky Point have all been upset victims.
Kings Park, which stunned SWR on Monday, is looking to prove it was no fluke when it plays at Glenn today at 4 p.m.
South Side takes a four-game win streak into its 4:45 p.m. game against visiting Wantagh.
In Connecticut, Ridgefield faces one of its biggest tests of the season when it hosts New Jersey prep school power Lawrenceville at 4:30 p.m.
Traditional rivals Greenwich and Wilton meet at 7 p.m. at Wilton.
Section 1 has a 13-game slate on tap today, including 2008 Class B sectional finalist Brewster facing Fox Lane at 4:30 p.m. at Fox Lane Stadium.
Predictions:
Glenn 9, Kings Park 6
South Side 11, Wantagh 7
Ridgefield 13, Lawrenceville Prep 7
Greenwich 10, Wilton 6
Brewster 10, Fox Lane 5
Score updates:
Lawrenceville Prep 12, Ridgefield 11
Glenn 10, Kings Park 6
Avon Old Farms 13, Brunswick 9
East Hampton 8, Bayport-Blue Point 2
Harborfields 12, Islip 8
Mount Sinai 8, Huntington 6
Hewlett 4, Carey 3
Wilton 10, Greenwich 5
Sayville 9, Shoreham-Wading River 8
Fordham Prep 11, Monsignor Farrell 2
Hackley 15, Poly Prep 14
Nyack 10, Ardsley 6
Pelham 14, Harrison 9
You can also reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.
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Posted In: Today's Top 5
Ridgefield-Lawrenceville could be interesting. The Tigers looked surprisingly vulnerable against Greenwich and seem to have lost some of that early season, “chip on their shoulder” swagger. However, I think Colsey gets them up for this game: 14-9, R’field.
And I think Wilton notches the second big win of the Wiseman era (let’s call the 6-4 come from behind victory over New Canaan the first) in a low scoring game. 7-5, Warriors.
Ridgefield by 10. They are the new #1 in the region.
James,
So Greenwich knocked the chip off of Ridgefields shoulder but can’t get it done against Wilton?
Lawrenceville lost to Hotchkiss who lost to Brunswick so I’m not sure they’ll be such a great test for Ridgefield.
Brunswick is the #1 team in CT. As much as it pains me to say that they are. With more than a few Greenwich kids starting or them…
Cards Lax,
Your “pain” about Greenwich kids playing for Brunswick (vs GHS) is shared by myself and I’m sure others in Rye in terms of Rye over the years having lost TOP lacrosse kids to Brunswick, RCDS, Westminster, deerfield, Choate, etc, etc.
Joe,
Paper says Somers @ Panas 4:30. Believe gametime was supposed to be 7:30???
This should be a real real good game. If you look at how they match up, and also how they did against common opponents, And Coach Lou Returns to place where parents ( Selfishly ) ran him out of town. Looking forward to a Thurs Night Section 1 throwdown! Your thoughts?
Cards Lax,
Lawrenceville plays Ridgefield on Wednesday and then Brunswick on Friday…you will get your best comparison between Brunswick and Ridgefield based on those two games and scores…same point in the season, same opponent, both games at home for teams in question…my money is on Ridgefield…I’ll wait for your post on Saturday with your comments…should be interesting…
Very tough on Lawrencville to travel up to CT. twice in 3 days. I’d say big advantage to Brunswick. I’m guessing Ridgefield Lawrenceville game will take something out of both teams.
First off, I’m glad to hear folks talking about Brunswick, one of the top teams in the area. Hope you all saw the story Cuse did last week. Lawrenceville playing Ridgefield and then Brunswick in a three-day span is noteworthy. As we know Ridgefield and Brunswick are two of the Top 10 teams in our rankings.
As for Somers-Lakeland/Panas, the game is 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Panas HS. I agree, it should be a very even matchup. Somers has some nagging injuries but the Tuskers have slowly been establishing more offensive balance around Joe Marasco, which is vital. Greg Petre, who has scored six goals in each of the Tuskers’ last two games, can rip ’em with the best of them. He has as hard and accurate a shot as you’ll find.
Lakeland/Panas really impressed me against Yorktown. The team fell behind early 3-0 and was down 7-4 at the half, but never quit. It was a similar scenario to the Rebels’ game at John Jay I also saw. They were down 7-2 and came back to win 13-12 in OT. The Rebels are a resilient bunch that plays real well together.
There is also the Lew Janavey connection. He was a goaltender at Lakeland and was a longtime assistant there under Frank Vitolo and then Tim Weir.
Should be a down-to-the-wire game. Feel free to post your picks.
When I spoke to Brunswick coach David Bruce last week he told me the majority of his kids are from Greenwich/Rye, but that others come from further away. For those of you who don’t know, Brunswick is a day school so there’s just so far parents will allow their kids to travel. I believe if Brunswick wasn’t around Rye and Gennwich Highs would be powers, serious powers.
OK, my Score for the Coach Lew J Cup:
Lakeland/Panas 12
Somers 9
Fitz,Fallo, and Friends prooves to much Offense!
The difficult thing for Greenwich (and Brunswick) is that the talent split is truly 50:50. It’s not a situation like Fairfield where the top athletes go to Prep…and that parity in matriculation accounts for the dead-even rivalry series these two squads play every year.
If Brunswick did not exist, last year’s Cards team would have likely been tops in the country. In addition to Dunster (UNC), Meyers (Princeton), Benincasa (UVA), Stafford and a host of college-bound role players, the Cards would have been bolstered by Prager (Duke), Oberbeck (Brown), Hoyos (Harvard) and others.
The ramifications of this “what if” are less significant for Rye, but the Garnets have been without the talents of the Virtue brothers through the years.
Last year Rye was down Morrell to Westminster, Gary to RCDS and, McDonald to Brunswick then Westminster and the Virtues to Brunswick.
Rye and Greenwich continue to win games and compete at a high level. They would dominate with a higher attendance rate.
Good info James…
Little fact, three summers ago a Katonah/Lewisboro resident Jamie Gumz attended Brunswick had committed to Harvard and was talented enough to start at midfield for that incredible JJ team that beat Huntington and lost to JD in the finals. A little more gas would have gone a long way for JJ that year. He made the empire team and was one of the better players that summer.
Great point about Gumz. Definately would have helped vs. JD. We had no legs because it was an 11 am game and the bus driver went the road way to Syracuse the day before making it an 8 hour trip.
We still wouldve beaten JD if we didn’t take a stupid illegal stick penalty that costs us two goals.
I actually think it was Charlie Gumz, sorry.
Any updates from Tiger Hollow?
No updates from the hollow, but the game, if not the clock, is probably over by now.
BREAKING … Ridgefield loses to Lawrenceville.
Lawrenceville won 12-11. Ridgefield had a 5-1 lead and lost its top defenseman for the season with an injury literally seconds into the first quarter. I’m told “Lawrenceville is loaded.”
Ridgefield had the ball with a chance to tie with 20 seconds left, but couldn’t get it done.
Brunswick, which plays Lawrenceville Prep on Friday, fell Avon Old Farms 13-9.
Here are a couple of big scores from Long Island we’ve just received and which have been updated in the main body of this post:
Glenn 10, Kings Park 6
Mount Sinai 8, Huntington 6
Sounds like arrogant Ridgefield fans counted their chickens before they were hatched. Now their goose will be cooked next Thursday by a big rolling BLUE WAVE!!!
Hats off to Lawrenceville. They came in and flat out wanted the game more than Ridgefield. No excuses! First quarter looked as though Ridgefield was going to run away with it. LV stayed calm and stuck to their game plan. They obviously scouted the Greenwich game as they played White and Scott tight and dared the RF midfield to beat them. Walsh again stuck some nice shots but he was the only RF midfielder who seemed to step up offensively. RF got absolutely destroyed on faceoff’s after the first quarter. I don’t think they won but a few and when they did LV just jumped the ballcarrier and stripped the ball. LV looked very fresh and motivated. RF looked bewildered and tired. RF has come back down to earth with a resounding thud.
According to Ridgefield assistant coach Don Connolly, Ridgefield suffered some devastating news on top of the loss. They may be without top defenseman John Mirra for the rest of the season after he suffered a knee injury in the first quarter. On top of that, Ridgefield’s FOGO, Duncan Morrisey who had a pre-existing injury may not be back until states.
Connolly said Lawrenceville dominated on faceoffs. They featured a 6-foot-3, 220-pound FOGO that Ridge had no answer for.
Still, Ridge led 5-1 early before Lawrenceville rallied for a 6-5 lead. It was 7-7 at the half. Lawrenceville led 10-8 in the third before Ridge bounced back.
The Tigers had the ball in the final seconds before losing possession.
Lawrenceville’s schedule is insane. They play some of the finest prep school competition in the country. Connolly said, believe it or not, this was a good loss.
Ride the Wave I’m guessing the only thing you ride is the bench.
Whatever … Darien still has no answer for the Tiger O.
Ridgefield 13, Darien 7
Let’s get rocking with Pac-JJ picks:
Pac 9, Jays 6
Interesting news about RIdgefield losing by the way.
‘Cuse, any idea who was injured on Ridgefield? What happened?
[…] For scores and highlights from today’s action, click here. […]
What a crazy week.
JJ 13 Pac 10
Admiral,
Read a few comments back. I explain what I was told about the injuries.
Ridgefield hype has been VERY premature over the past few weeks. Once they get beaten badly by Darien their short lived national rankings will be over.
just a fan – If you think Darien is coming to Tiger Hollow and beating Ridgefield this year you to need to get just a clue.
Ridgefield 15, Darien 5
Pac 10-8 over Jay
Cards lax,
And Schmicker (deerfield) to Cornell, Duckworth (choate) to Gettysburg, and Klass (?) to Georgetown!!!
Thanks ‘Cuse …. got it…that is too bad. Too many knees this year.
Lakeland – 10 Somers-8
No chance Pac wins tomorrow, sorry…..
Greenwich with 4 offensive starters on the sideline with injuries going into the 4th down 6-5 lose 10-5… Greenwich does not have the offensive guns to get it done.
What the heck is going on here? SWR loses again??? Tom Rotanz must have said 10 times during our interview that Sayville was good and a team to reckon with. Shoreham losing two straight to really unknown entities is shocking to me. You should see Joe right now. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s wandering aimlessly across his 50 acres.
Cant see Pac giving up over 10 goals..the highest total they have given up was 10 to Yorktown… I see it coming down to the wire but McGuigan comes up big as he has all year.. Mahopac-9 John Jay-7
I think Manhasset is the obvious choice to be No. 1 next week. Yorktown should be No. 2 if they beat Chaminade.
Special thanks to Capt. Obvious for the information on that one.
Top Corner-
Actually Mahopac gave up 10 to Hen Hud as well.
Call me a Novice, but if Ward Melville just beat #1 WI and beat Top 5 Yorktown last week, both on the road, then isn’t that worth considering putting Ward Melville at #1? I know they lost two close games the very first week of the season, plus another recently, and I know they won’t jump from #14 all the way to the penthouse, but they are actually doing what other schools supporters wish theirs was doing. I’d hate to think that if Chaminade manages to win on Saturday that they’ll be #1, Manhasset would be a better choice, I agree.
And, as always, its a very slippery slope as the regualr season winds on. Too bad about those injuries to the Ridgefield boys, btw, it’s tough to adjust in mid-season when things were going so well. Hope they, and everybody else who is hurt, get back on the field before FCIACS and States.
Hudlax,
yes you are correct, good offensive display by HenHud that day. Still, there defense has been greatly improved and they have been holding teams under double digits. Corace has turned the D around if the offense starts firing on all cylinders as they are capable i think they can avenge the loss to L/P and get to the finals..then who knows
Keeler Tav-
If you honestly think that Ridgefield is going to beat Darien by 10 goals, then you are the one who needs to get a clue. Darien hasn’t lost by more than five goals in a decade. The Keeler Tav must still be serving brews from the Revolutionary War. Favorites, yes. Ten goals, not a chance.
Wasabi –
I think your comments are right on the mark. At this point, I would give Ridgefield an edge but you could make a case the game could be a toss-up. Should be a great one.
Hilarious comment about the Keeler Tavern, too. For those who may not know, it was one of the main battlegrounds in the historic Battle of Ridgefield during the Revolutionary War in 1777. In fact, there’s still a British cannonball embedded in one of its walls.
Also of note from the new national rankings I posted on the Today’s Top 5 thread, Ridgefield and SWR dropped out.
I think the injury to Mirra is devastating. From what I was told once he went down yesterday Lawrenceville exploited Ridgefield from X and the wings. How this pertains to what Darien will do is hard to say. I still think Ridgefield is far more explosive than a team like Yorktown and the Huskers beat Darien by 3 and by all accounts should have won by more.
From an offensive standpoint, if Ridgefield makes up for the loss of Morrisey on faceoffs, they will put up a fairly big number on Darien, which has two really good poles but overall defensively isn’t vintage Darien.
Defensively, if Ridge controls Foley the game is theirs because though the Wave get plenty of offense from Bolton on the midfield, Foley makes Matheis and the others on attack that much better. He doesn’t have to score to be effective, so the idea is to deny Foley the ball and make Bolton beat you.
This won’t be a 10-goal game but I still expect Ridgefield to win comfortably, maybe by 6 or 7.
Despite the injuries, Ridgefield is probably a better team now as a result of the loss.
And so far anyway, no one has really been able to completely shut down White, Scott AND Walsh. As Colsey was quoted saying in this week’s Press “He hasn’t seen any defensemen yet who’s been able control Walsh all season”. He’s really been Ridgefield’s most consistant performer and scorer.
Having said that, never underestimate the value of excellent coaching at the high school level. Should be a great game.
Joe how does the all section awards work….does your head coach nominate you or does other coaches
The progress can be tweaked but basically the main discussion is to how many spots each team receives. Power-league teams get the majority of selections. Then it must be determined how many are awarded per team. Once that done, each team’s coach nominates players he thinks are deserving and the other coaches almost always approve the selections.