GREENWICH – There were enough bright players on the field, maybe bigger or stronger players. When Greenwich ran the final 35 seconds of their boys’ lacrosse game against Cheshire on Thursday, the ball began in Jack Cook’s Crosse.
“We had to keep it for the last minute. I just had a couple of kids running around, ”said the older midfielder. “There was a pretty big collision in the end, but we’re happy to see that.” He chuckled. “Good way to end it.”
The officers reported this collision, but it didn’t matter. No 7 Greenwich held the ball to score a 10-9 win over the No 9 Rams and ended both teams’ regular times with a barn burner.
Greenwich (11-4) took the lead twice with three goals in the second half. Cheshire (13-3) caught up for the first time, but Cook and the Cardinals held them back the last time.
“Jack Cook, the boy, he’s just an MVP in every game,” said Greenwich coach Bobby Lutz. “He’s kicking off. He plays defense. He picks up every floor ball.
“Even in the end, you’d think we’d give it to Will (Montesi) because he’s our biggest and strongest player, but. … not that Will wouldn’t make the smart move, but Jack Cook just always does the right thing. It’s good to have a captain like that. “
Greenwich had some stretches where it dominated possession and held the ball at the end of Cheshire. This was not an easy task for a defense that captain Nick DiDomizio lost to an injury this season and had to face the Cardinals’ swift offensive. Andrew Vernon made a handful of major parades for Cheshire.
The Rams might have pushed a few times when they got the ball back, thought Cheshire coach Mike Devine, and gave it back right away.
“I only told coach Lutz that they made two fewer mistakes than we did,” said Devine. “We played a lot of defense. The defense stayed tough but they only made two fewer mistakes and picked up a few more ground balls. You can’t do that against a good team, an FCIAC team. We will learn from it. We will be fine. “
Cheshire will be the second seed in the SCC tournament. The only loss in the league was third-placed Fairfield Prep. The only other loss was fourth-placed Staples, who will take part in the FCIAC tournament along with the Cardinals. These seeds are to be determined after the games on Saturday.
FCIAC teams account for six of the seven best places in the GameTimeCT Top 10 survey. But Lutz thought Vernon and Cheshire’s Faceoff man Aidan Gaudet were as good as anyone else he’s seen this year.
“It is sometimes difficult for these kids to see other teams in the state how good they are,” said Lutz. “They are fixated on the FCIAC, how good the FCIAC teams are and forget that there are a lot of top-class teams north of us. Sometimes they have to focus mentally on how other teams can be real competition for us. “
Cheshire scored two man-up goals in the first 71 seconds of the game, but Greenwich, after starting some of their seniors on Senior Night, came in 4-3 towards the end of the first quarter and 5 towards the end of the first half: 4 back.
Bryce Metalios scored five goals to lead the Greenwich offensive and Wes Zolin had four assists. Brian Bouwman scored three for Cheshire.
mfornabaio@ctpost.com; @fornabaioctp
GREENWICH 10, CHESHIRE 9
CHESHIRE4 0 3 2—9
GREENWICH4 1 2 3—10
Records: Cheshire 13-3; Greenwich 11-4. Rating: C – Brian Bouwman 3 goals; Charles Kurtz 1 goal, 2 assists; PJ Cass 1 g, 2a; Evan Star 2g; Jack Raba 1 g, 1a; Jack Lovelace 2a; Jack Davis 1 g; Max Hardware 1a; G – Bryce Metalios 5 g; Wes Zolin 4a; John Cataldo 2 g; James Pilc 2a; Brian Collins 1 g; Jack Cook 1 g; Will Montesi 1g; Matthew Trimmer 1a; Quinn Warwick 1a. Goalkeeper: C – Andrew Vernon (16 parades); G – Will Clemens (0), Charlie Zola (8). Recordings: C-26; G-41.