
Boys’ Latin Uses 1st Half Run to Defeat Saint Andrew’s 10-5
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
Thanks to Robin Knowles for the header picture, above, and the great save photo by Andrew Busel in the article, below
Lacrosse royalty came to town last night, just like it did last week and for the second time SA was able to hang with it, but unable to knock the king off their throne.
One thing I always try to do before a visiting MIAA team comes to town is to check how many of their players are already committed to D1 programs.
Here’s Boys’ Latin’s starting lineup last night with their commits:
Attack:
Sr. Logan Wisnauskas (Syracuse), So. Basil Aburn (Syracuse), So. Matt Brandau (Uncommitted but noted on the Recruiting Rundown Watch List)
Middies:
FOGO Jake Glatz (Penn State), Sr. Davey Lizana (Furman), Jr. Luke Shilling (Johns Hopkins), Jr. Greg Ey (Penn State)
Defense/Goal:
Sr. Goalie Jack Pezzulla (North Carolina), Sr. Andrew Murrow (Fairfield), Sr. Ryan McNulty (not sure, but maybe Loyola), Fr. Regan McNemar (Air Force)
Oh, by the way . . .
Non-starters:
Jr. Middie Koby Russell (High Point)
So. LSM Mike Ubriaco (Johns Hopkins)
Sr. Middie Ryan Shaw (Delaware)
So. Goalie Chris Brandau (Georgetown)
So. Middie Brendan Crouse (Air Force)
As far as I’m concerned Wisnauskas could start for Syracuse right now and he is a load. Big, can play near the cage and outside. Maybe the only thing he needs to work on is his accuracy from beyond 15 yards . . . maybe dial it down to about 100 mph? Let’s see how fast he plays next season in the Dome. Aburn, as a sophomore, has a heck of an inside presence and his fourth goal quick stick shot was a thing of beauty.
Yeesh.
Oy.
Fill in your own one-word definition _______.
Legendary head coach Bob Shriver retired last year and Boys’ Latin hired Brian Farrell . . . BL grad himself, plus Maryland and the MLL afterwards . . . to replace him. Coach Farrell played Saint Andrew’s in his high school days and I asked him after the game what differences he saw since then. After mentioning the field and the atmosphere (funny how everyone who travels south at this time of year seems to pick up on that along with the weather) he did note the difference of the high end talent, which was in shorter supply 10+ years ago when he played.
It was such a big game that the Sun-Sentinel relented and let Wells cover the game, since Spring Break meant a gap in the normal coverage of water polo and track and field. No sighting of the Palm Beach Post though, which still thinks lacrosse is synonymous with catching the Norovirus . . . or maybe any team with Boys’ in its’ title offends their political correctness. Imagine if it was the Boys’ Latin Redskins instead of the Lakers . . . THEN they would show up. With the Editorial Page writer probably . . .
The game itself would have featured two of the best FOGOs in high school but unfortunately Gable Braun sat out for SA and that made a difference as BL went 13-18 at the circle. Also SA played very tight and showed a general lack of patience offensively in the first half as BL was able to control possession for the entire half. I didn’t keep track but I would be surprised if SA had the ball for more than 5 minutes of the first 24. Some of that was the faceoffs, but most was an uncharacteristic tendency to look for an early shot off an individual effort instead of making BL’s defense play a while. Wisnauskas and Aburn combined for six of the eight first-half goals of the half and while SA’s defense played fairly well you just can’t stay that long on defense without paying a price for it.
SA’s only two inside scores came off a hidden ball trick and a crease feed in the fourth and very little of the inside passing game was visible. Coach Seaman decided to give Andrew Busel the second half of the game and he made some spectacular saves, particularly on a clear one-on-one fast break in the third quarter. Starter Nick Ferraro faced 15 shots on goal in the first half and made some nice stops. SA can certainly take away from the game a solid second half effort in which they outscored the Lakers 3-2 and Coach Seaman felt his team was pretty much were they should be going into the last part of the season.
BL did dominate the statistics, with 21 shots on goal to SA’s 8, while only committing 9 turnovers. SA’s defense really shined in the second half and the rest of the team finally got comfortable, leaving once again that age old question of what-if . . . what if they played more confident in the first half?
Either way, once again local fans were treated to that rare instance of seeing with their own eyes how this game is played at its’ highest level . . . and wanting to see more.
One day our friendly media concern up I-95 might catch the fever itself . . . lacrosse version, not Noro.
SA took the lead at 8:58 of the first as Brian Fox and Peter Dykas teamed up, with Dykas finding Fox with a skip pass from the left wing and Fox’s left hand found the top short side from the right wing. BL answered less than two minutes later as Wisnauskas started up top and went down the right alley before going through Ferraro’s legs as he got a piece but couldn’t stop it. Then at 5:13 Wisnauskas found Shilling at the crease from right GLE and Shilling one-timed it for 2-1. Then with 45 seconds left in the period, Matt Brandau found Wisnauskas on the right wing from behind and his step down left hand rip found the high short side to make it 3-1 after one.
BL dominated the second quarter and ran off another 5 goals to make it 8-1. Aburn at 8:40 as he dodged from right behind to the middle and finished high with the left hand. Then at 7:20 Wisnauskas was the recipient of a fortunate tipped pass from Brandau, 40 yards away, and he finished easily from the left crease. A little over a minute later Aburn took advantage of a loose ball in front and went behind the back from the right crease area at 6:15 for 6-1. Then at 4:30 Aburn was able to shovel in a loose rebound in front and with 2:28 left the run was complete as Aburn took Ey’s top right wing pass in the middle and quickly flipped the ball high in one motion. Nick Diamond got one back with 20 seconds left on teh aforementioned hidden ball play and it was 8-2 at the half. SA was held to three shot attempts in both of the first two quarters.
SA cut the lead to 8-3 at 6:59 of the third as Nick Iznaga and Dykas teamed up on EMO as Dykas’ up top feed to the left wing found Iznaga for the top corner rip. BL came back at 5:38 as Wisnauskas worked from behind right up the alley and his left hand shot went to the low left corner. Then with :02 on the clock Dykas worked hard up top and found some space down the right alley before placing a nice bounce shot to the left side and it was 9-4 after three.
The teams traded goals in the fourth to make it a 10-5 final. Murrow took advantage of a fast break with the long pole to fire one home at 10:03 and with 7:44 left SA’s Mark Heatzig and Davis Diamond teamed up, with Diamond finding Heatzig on the crease off a left alley dodge and Heatzig finished all alone in front to end the scoring. BL basically ran off much of the clock in the last 5 minutes and the game ended quietly.
Another year, and another sweep of Florida by the MIAA.
At least we can say that this year after last year’s self-inflicted wound . . .
Wait til’ next year!
SA is off until April 1st, when they welcome Belen Jesuit to Boca and Boys’ Latin goes home to cooler weather and a road game next Tuesday with another national power, Gonzaga (DC).
Team Statistics
Faceoffs: BL 13-5
Shots: BL 33-17
Shots on Goal: BL 21 – 8
Turnovers: SA 13-9
Penalties: 2 each
Individual Statistics
BL
Logan Wisnauskas 3G/2A
Basil Aburn 4G
Matt Brandau 1G/1A
Luke Shilling and Andrew Murrow 1G each
Greg Ey 1A
Jack Pezzulla with 3 saves
SA
Peter Dykas 1G/2A
Brian Fox, Nick Diamond, Nick Iznaga and Mark Heatzig 1G each
Davis Diamond 1A
Nick Ferraro and Andrew Busel combined for 11 saves
Thanks to Coach Seaman and Coach Farrell for talking to me before and after the game



