Sunday, April 27, 2014

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Matt Coppola scored three times for River Dell, which handed Waldwick its first league loss of the season, 10-7, on Saturday in Oradell.

ORADELL – One trait of championship teams is the ability to figure out what style of play and what combination of players work for certain situations. It was a riddle that the River Dell boys lacrosse team had to solve on Saturday when it trailed Waldwick by a goal at halftime despite controlling the time of possession. While head coach Joe Infante made sure his team stuck to original plan of working the ball around for a good shot, he implored his team to do it with a sense of urgency. With the Jacobson Division title essentially on the line, Infante got the effort he was looking for on both ends of the field.

River Dell allowed just two goals in the second half and got to late goals from Rich Myers to stay unbeaten in league play and hand Waldwick its first league loss in the process with a 10-7 triumph at River Dell High School in Oradell.

“We knew how big this game was and give River Dell credit, they made more plays than we did in the second half,” said Waldwick head coach Mike Dittamo. “I thought we gave away too many possessions and you can't get into a flow when you turn the ball over. A good team like River Dell will take advantage of that. I liked how we played to get the lead. But once we got the lead late in the first half, we started playing like we were down two goals instead of up two goals. It's a learning curve though and we'll get better because of this game.”

The Hawks got on the scoreboard first when Matt Coppola found the back of the net just over four minutes into the game. Waldwick's Jeremy Zaukas and Chris D'Alessandro scored two straight goals 39 seconds apart to take the lead midway through the first quarter.

Waldwick's Jeremy Zaukas finished with three goals and an assist.

From there, the teams alternated goals until Mike Alvarez and Zaukas tallied back-to-back goals to give the Warriors the only two-goal lead by either team during the first half. With the final ticks of the first half winding down, Myers bulled his way past a defender and scored with five seconds remaining to give River Dell some much-needed momentum heading into halftime down 6-5.

“I didn't have much time to work with so I tried to make something happen,” said Myers, a senior attackman. “I felt a guy pushing out on me and I couldn't get a pass off. So I gave a fake like I was rolling back and when I turned back I saw a hole where I could get off a shot. I was just happy I got it on net and it went before time ran out.”

After River Dell tied it, Waldwick jumped back in front on a Eric Morin goal. But that 7-6 lead would be their last as Hawks' goalie Dan O'Connor and the entire defense clamped down. They had a stretch of nearly 17 minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters without allowing a goal.

In the second half, the Hawks continued to control the clock but with a more fast-paced, quick-passing approach. It worked in creating some mismatches that they were able to take advantage of. River Dell tied the game on a goal by Dylan Connelly and went ahead on Matt Farrell's tally to take an 8-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Hawks dominated possession in the final stanza with Myers giving them a two-goal lead early before closing it out with 1:46 to play a nice diving shot to put the game away with a 10-7 lead.

Both Myers and Coppola had three goals for River Dell (9-3). Connelly added two goals, Dan Ross scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls and O'Connor finished with eight saves.

Dylan Connelly had two goals for River Dell, which improved to 9-3.

Zaukas led the way offensively for Waldwick (8-2) with three goals and an assist. Mike Alvarez scored twice and goalie Chris Cameron made seven saves in net.

Now a game up Waldwick and still undefeated in the league with just two league games left, the outright Jacobson Division title is well within the Hawks' grasp. While Infante would love for his team to win the title, Saturday's win was all about making an effective in-game adjustment and watching his team as a whole grow under a pressure situation.

“We didn't have to say anything, we knew what was in front of us today and I'm elated that we rose to the challenge,” said Infante, a first-year head coach. “We used more of a set transition offense in the second half to speed up the pace. We used more open sets and drop into a 1-4 or a 23 set to create some open space and scoring opportunities. It was great to see us make an adjustment at halftime and have the kids respond to it the way that they did. More than anything, I'm just happy seeing them really playing lacrosse and seeing the field well as opposed to strictly getting by on athleticism.”

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