Sports
Boys lacrosse: Tigers put away McMahon

May 8, 2008

After suffering its first loss of the season in a non-conference game with New Fairfield last Wednesday, the Ridgefield High boys lacrosse team bounced back with wins over Westhill and Brien McMahon, staying unbeaten in the FCIAC.

Monday night, the Tigers (11-1 overall, 10-0 FCIAC) held off a pesky McMahon team in a 13-5 win at Tiger Hollow.

On paper, the final score read like a blowout. But because of the physicality and intensity of the game, it was anything but that.

The teams were tied at 1-1 after the first quarter and the Tigers went into halftime with a 6-3 lead, despite trailing early in the second quarter.

But Ridgefield came out energized in the second half, outscoring the Senators, 7-2, on the way to keeping their league record perfect.

“I just told them to come out with a lot more fire and intensity, to be more patient with the ball,” head coach Andy Stockfisch said after the game.

The Tigers’ offensive charge was led by junior Matt Baker (four goals, one assist).

“He stepped up and had a great night,” Stockfisch said. “It’s something I know he’s capable of and expect from him, and tonight he really proved it and showed what he’s got.”

The Senators’ goalie Andrew Landsman tamed the Tigers for the first 10 minutes of play, recording six of his 16 saves in the first quarter. Baker finally put the Tigers on the board when he fired a shot over Landsman’s left shoulder into the cage, assisted by junior Brendan Walsh (three goals, one assist).

McMahon’s Connor McCormack (two goals) answered with 34 seconds left in the first, beating senior goalie Brad DePrima (10 saves) to even the score at one.

The Tigers were shorthanded to start the second quarter, as junior Matt White was called for having an illegal pocket and given a one-minute, non-releasable penalty.

Though the Tigers’ defense effectively killed the penalty, McMahon’s Andrew Dunlap (two goals) scored off a pass from Craig Breder (one goal, two assists) with 10:51 left in the half, giving the Senators a 2-1 lead — an advantage they wouldn’t hold for long.

Immediately after falling behind, the Tigers’ offense put pressure on Landsman, who was able to deflect a few shots before the Tigers scored five straight over five minutes, with two goals from Baker and goals from Walsh, junior Colin Scott (two goals) and White (two goals, two assists) putting Ridgefield up 6-2 with 4:45 left to play in the half.

As time wound down, Dunlap brought the Senators within three, assisted by Salieu Bolwar (two assists).

Four minutes into the second half, Walsh put the Tigers back up by four as he emerged victorious with a groundball that had been bouncing around like a pinball in a scrum and sent a shot over Landsman’s head.

DePrima, who recorded eight saves in the second half, held the Senators to just two goals from that point on. The first of those goals came on a botched clear that was intercepted by McMahon, leading to an easy one-timer. With 4:32 left in the third, Breder fed McCormack, who beat DePrima to bring the score to 7-4.

But after an illegal procedure was called against McMahon during the face-off, the Tigers got the goal back six seconds later, with Baker feeding Walsh to increase the lead to four and start a run of six unanswered goals.

Three minutes later, White picked up a groundball and took it coast to coast, beating Landsman unassisted to make the score 9-4 after three quarters.

The Tigers scored the four straight to open up the fourth, including a bullet from junior defenseman Jonathan Mirra, who brought the ball up on a clear and saw an open lane to the cage. Breder added a goal with 1:42 left in the game, but it was too little, too late.

Also scoring for the Tigers were sophomore Mike Galione (one goal, one assist), senior Jordan Tiger (one assist) and sophomore Kurt Mueller (one assist).

Although the Tigers have perhaps their biggest game of the season against reigning state champ Darien on Saturday, Stockfisch said he wasn’t looking past yesterday’s game (too late for this issue) with Trumbull.

“You take it one game at a time,” he said. “But for the Darien game our defense needs to be a lot tighter and both our offense and defense need to be a lot smarter with the ball. We need to be patient and produce on our opportunities.”


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