|
Chris Longo came up big in Somers’ biggest games last season.
The senior goaltender made 17 saves as the Tuskers unseated four-time defending champion John Jay 14-9 in the sectional finals. This came after a 26-save performance in a 10-7 regular-season win over John Jay.
Longo and the Tuskers are in action on Saturday as they host their second annual Red/Gray Preseason Tournament, starting at 9 a.m.
The schedule for the seven-team, second annual Red/Gray Tournament starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 20 at Somers has just been finalized.
The event includes defending Section 1 Class B champion and host Somers, CHSAA champ St. Anthony’s and New Jersey power Don Bosco. Brewster, Fox Lane, Auburn and Guilderland will also be competing.
It didn’t take long for the Somers Tuskers to set the tone against three-time defending sectional champion John Jay in last year’s Section 1 title game at White Plains High School.
It happened just seven seconds into the game when Greg Petre (shown above in a photo taken by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com) fired in a shot off a fastbreak.
If the Tuskers are to win another sectional title this year, they will need plenty more big goals from the Army-bound senior attackman, who is also expected to see a considerable amount of action at midfield this season.
Few players in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region enjoyed the rapid rise Somers senior John Bello did last season.
After coming off an injury-riddled sophomore season, Bello emerged as one of the area’s top defensemen and a Division I recruit. Over the summer, he accepted a scholarship offer from St. John’s of the newly formed Big East Conference.
Rising junior defenseman Eddie Schurr will become
the first player in Somers history to attend Johns Hopkins.
(File photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
It didn’t take long for one of the top juniors in the region to make a college commitment.
And it’s a big one.
Just five days after Division I coaches became allowed to contact current juniors, Somers defenseman Eddie Schurr has given a verbal commitment to Johns Hopkins.
Somers all-section attackman Greg Petre
just gave an oral commitment to attend Army.
(File photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
• Check the second page of this post for a Q&A with Greg Petre.
Rising senior John Bello will be spending his college career
in the newly formed Big East Lacrosse Conference.
(File photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
Somers’ John Bello, one of the leading returning defensemen in the region for next season, just got off the phone moments ago with St. John’s coach Jason Miller.
Bello called Miller this evening to inform him he has accepted a scholarship offer from the Red Storm.
Ted Georgalas, who founded Mahopac’s varsity program and is one of the men most instrumental in the growth of Section 1 lacrosse, has joined Army’s program as an assistant coach.
Syracuse-bound JoJo Marasco.
(Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
The votes are all in, and in a down-to-the-wire showdown, Syracuse University-bound JoJo Marasco of edged Manhasset’s Connor English and West Islip’s Nicky Galasso to earn the inaugural LaxLessons.com regional player of the year award.
LaxLessons.com all-region threads:
• Here is your 2009 LaxLessons.com all-region team
All three matchups will be 1 vs. 2.
No, we’re not talking about seeds. We’re talking about sections.
Three teams from Section 1 (Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess counties) will square off against their counterparts from Section 2 (Albany area) tomorrow starting at 3:30 p.m. at the University at Albany in the state quarterfinals.
We’ve previewed tomorrow’s Long Island championships as well as the CIAC quarterfinals, now let’s take a look at what to expect up along I-87.
Was it something I said? Not sure. But that’s quite an expression on Somers
first-year coach Lew Janavey’s face during our interview Thursday night.
First-year Somers coach Lew Janavey joins us now as we wrap up our interviews following the top-seeded Tuskers’ 14-9 win over four-time sectional champion John Jay in Thursday night’s Section 1 Class B championship game at White Plains High School’s Glenn D. Loucks Field.
Defense made a big difference Thursday for Somers in its 14-9 win over John Jay in the Section 1 Class B final.
In addition to the play o f junior goaltender Chris Longo (17 saves), the Tuskers got a strong effort from the close unit of junior John Bello, sophomore Eddie Schurr and senior Erik Zmuidins.
We talked with the trio after the game.
Email This Post
Somers juniors Greg Petre and Colin Tullgren combined for five goals Thursday as the Tuskers downed four-time sectional champion John Jay 14-9 in the Section 1 Class B championship game at White Plains. We caught up with them after the game.
Email This Post
We continue our video interviews following Somers’ 14-9 win over John Jay in the Class B sectional final on Thursday with a pair of Somers juniors: goaltender Chris Longo, who made 17 saves, and attackman Cole Partenza, who scored two goals.
We now start our post-game interviews following top-seeded Somers’ 14-9 win over four-time defending sectional champ John Jay in Thursday’s Section 1 Class B final at White Plains’ High School Glenn D. Loucks Field.
First up: Who else? JoJo Marasco. The two-time all-America attackman, bound for two-time national champion Syracuse, had four goals.
We have plenty more interviews with Somers players and coach Lew Janavey. So be sure to check back.
The Somers Tuskers won a sectional championship for the first time since 2006 and sixth time in school history Thursday as they beat three-time defending sectional titlist John Jay in the Class B final at White Plains High School’s Glenn D. Loucks Stadium.
Here are some highlights. Be sure to check back for post-game video interviews.
SECTION 1
Class A: Yorktown 11, Lakeland/Panas 10 (OT)
Class B: Somers 14, John Jay 9
Class C: Putnam Valley 10, Rye 7
Photos by Ray Gallagher
(For a gallery of photos from the three championship games, click here.)
Check back for video interviews and highlights.
Rye defenseman Donald Keough
and John Jay midfielder Mike Daniello.
(Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
The matchups are hardly surprising. But the games themselves could be.
We’re talking about the Section 1 playoffs.
With live threads now (see below) on the finals in Connecticut and Long Island, it’s time to launch our final prediction fest — for the three title games in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess lax.
JoJo Marasco now has 202 career goals.
(Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
Reaching the 100-career goal mark in high school lacrosse is a rare feat.
Today, Syracus University-bound Somers star JoJo Marasco accomplished something even more unusual.
Marasco scored his 200th career goal today as Somers won at Brewster 13-7.
At left: Dylan Haas, John Bello (Somers). At right: Drew Beck, Andrew Masterson (John Jay). John Jay has won four straight titles. Somers is likely to be the top seed in the playoffs.
Somers junior Greg Petre.
(Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
The Irvington Bulldogs are off to a 9-0 start.
Not bad for a program in just its third year at the varsity level.
Colgate-bound Erik Pfiffner and Syracuse-bound JoJo Marasco.
(Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
There was something in the mist tonight at Walter Panas High School.
With a thick white haze engulfing the field, tonight’s game between Somers and host Lakeland/Panas had a unique feel to it.
It’s a feeling Somers hopes to experience once again real soon.
The Tuskers rallied for a 10-9 overtime win after trailing 9-7 late in the fourth quarter.
• For a rundown of Thursday’s scores and highlights, click here.
• For video highlights of Somers vs. Lakeland/Panas, click here.
The win was especially sweet for Somers for a variety of reasons.
First, a week earlier to the day earlier, the Tuskers squandered a lead in losing to Rye 9-8 in overtime.
Second, it marked first-year Somers coach Lew Janavey’s first coaching appearance against the Rebels, where he served as an assistant from 1990 to 2004, before being relieved of his duties.
Finally, it was a physical, hard-hitting and at times chippy game in which emotions boiled over at times.
Somers won it 40 seconds into overtime when JoJo Marasco blasted home a low shot into the left corner of the net.
“Colin (Tullgren) put it there for me,” Marasco said. “Then after I took that first slide, and I just tried to put it in low.”
Trailing 9-7 late in the game, the Tuskers rallied to force overtime on goals by Dylan Haas (with 2:25 left in regulation) and Marasco (with 2:06 left), who finished with three goals and two assists.
Haas, Rob Lombardo and Greg Petre each had two goals for the Tuskers. Cole Partenza had the other goal for Somers. Chris Longo made 13 saves.
“Certain guys played selfishly down the stretch and we made some mental mistakes you just can’t make,” said Lakeland/Panas coach Jim Lindsay, who expressed his sentiments to his team in a 10-minute post-game huddle. “We gave the game away. That drives me nuts.”
Moments before Somers’ comeback, a heated exchange occurred between Marasco and Lakeland/Panas’ Owen Rice, in which Marasco fell to the ground in apparent pain after taking a slash to the stomach before the ball was dropped. The two then exchanged words while serving their ensuing penalties. Moments later, a near melee between the teams at midfield ensued. Order was restored, but emotions were at a fever pitch. (One player was called for five penalties during the course of the game.)
“There was some chippy play,” Janavey said. “We’re a physical team and they weren’t backing down.”
But Lindsay said the Rebels weren’t able to counter the Tuskers’ physical style.
“They outgroundballed us,” Lindsay said. “I don’t think we were able to match their physicality. We’re just not as physical as much as we may want to change that habit.”
Somers played without faceoff specialist Matt Deiana, who is out with a foot injury. In his place, junior Erik Pfiffner took the majority of the faceoffs and fared well against Lakeland/Panas faceoff standout John Hitmann, especially in the second half. He won the faceoffs that set up the tying and winning scores.
“That was my whole focus going into the game,” the Colgate-bound Pfiffner said. “I knew how important it was going to be and I was really focused on it.”
Will Fallo had two goals and an assist for the Rebels. Jack Doherty and Shawn Honovich also scored twice. Steven Hoch made 16 saves.
Reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.
Top photo: Put Valley’s Ryan Fitzgerald and Dillon Chesnut celebrate a goal in the Tigers’ 15-9 win over Rye. Photo above: Kyle Calabro lets it rip for PV. (Photos by Ray Gallagher)
• Click here for Section 1 photo galleries.
• For Section 1 commentary and features.
• For video highlights of the Yorktown-Darien game, click here.
I only wish I could make it to all of them.
Realistically, three is going to be a stretch. But I’m going to try. (Other than the postseason tripleheaders, this will be a first for me. So stay tuned, my friends.)
Somers junior Colin Tullgren (top) had four goals and two assists in the Tuskers’ big win today at Horace Greeley. Classmate Cole Partenza (below) scored twice. (Photos by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
A couple of big showdowns in Suffolk. Some crucial games involving teams from Westchester, Rockland and Putnam.
It should be an interesting Thursday throughout the region today.
As John Jay and Somers players lined up for the post-game handshake following Somers’ 10-7 win tonight, you could almost sense the feeling on both sides.
That while it was a big game — and, in fact, a very entertaining one — it was just Round 1.
I talked to players and coaches from both teams and asked them directly: Do you think you guys will meet each other again?
The answer in every case was a resounding yes.
Now, whether that’s in the Class B semifinals or finals — if it indeed does happen — remains to be seen. Especially after Greeley’s gutty performance in a 16-11 loss at Yorktown.
• For video highlights of the John Jay-Somers game, click here.
Tomorrow, Long Island will take center stage with some colossal confrontations on tap.
But today, Section 1 is in the spotlight.
Let’s call it Super Tuesday.
Welcome to a brand new age here at LaxLessons.com, gang.
Tonight we are rolling out video features for you folks. And who better to be our first interview subject than one of the top players in the region, Somers attackman/midfielder Joe Marasco, the eighth-ranked senior in the nation by Inside Lacrosse. Marasco is headed to defending national champion Syracuse.
Refer 10 friends to laxlessons.com and download any Lacrosse Play, Drill, Practice Plan, or Workout for FREE!
All Plays, Drills, Practice Plans, and Workouts are available as PDF downloads that you can print and bring to practice. View a sample play.
New Comments