It's been an up-and-down season so far for the Delbarton's lacrosse team, with wins against NJILL teams and losses to out-of-state powers. None of that matters when it comes to Mountain Lakes, especially since the Green Wave has not had a win in their past four tries against the Lakers. In the biggest win of the young season, Coach Kovachik's team traveled to Mt. Lakes and came home with a hard earned 8-4 win.
Trailing 2-0 after the first quarter, it may have appeared that Mt. Lakes would extend its streak to 5 wins, but scores can be deceiving. Coach Kovchik's team just needed to settle in and not waste the opportunities they had, which is what happened in the second quarter in Mountain Lakes. Down 2-0, Delbarton reeled off 5 unanswered goals by TJ Coffey (Sr., Quinnipiac), Grey Doyle (Sr., Bates), Nick Dotro (Sr., Franklin & Marshall), and Vincent Ferrara (Sr., Gettysburg) and took a 5-2 lead into halftime. "Getting out of the first quarter, we were really frustrated. Shots just weren't going," T.J. Coffey said. "Second quarter we got really hungry and started moving the ball a little faster. Once that first shot went in, we just piled on top of each other and we really rallied around one another."
That was all Aidan Troy (Jr., Penn) and the stifling Delbarton defense needed, allowing only 15 shots from the #3 team in the state. Over the final three quarters, the Green Wave controlled all aspects of the game, winning ground balls 30-16, and outshooting the Lakers 33-13, while Nick Faccone (Sr., Lafayette) and Ryan Trafford (Jr., Navy) won over 60% of the face-offs. The offensive output was led by Coffey, Doyle, and Sean Dczok (Sr., Loomis Chaffee) who had 3 points each. "I just wanted to set the tone, come out strong, and I feel like that rippled into our whole team effort. I think we brought the energy today," Jake Melchionni said.
"I think we made a step forward on both sides of the midfield line today," Coach Kovachik said. "We were patient on offense and defensively we were able to settle in."Delbarton returns to action tomorrow when they host Scotch Plains before heading to Summit on Saturday.
