Calhoun outlasts Kennedy, 10-8

Calhoun used a patient and balanced offensive attack, along with a strong finish from freshman goalie Kyle Munson (11 saves) to turn back district-rival Kennedy, 10-8, last Saturday and earn its first Conference B-I boys’ lacrosse victory of the season.

Six different players scored at least once for the Colts (5-3 overall, 1-1 in Conference B-I), led by senior attack Mike Zito, who tallied three goals, including the 10th and final goal with 4:23 to play that finally gave Calhoun some breathing room on the scoreboard. “Varsity lacrosse is always physical, but both teams played clean and played [hard],” Colts coach Jim Feminella said.

Despite trailing by as many as four goals in the third quarter, the Cougars (3-5 overall, 0-1 in Conference B-I) used their strong transition game to fight back with senior Nico Racalbuto (two goals, one assist) closing the gap to 8-7 just 1:11 into the fourth quarter. The score capped a three-goal run that started midway through the third quarter when Racalbuto set up senior Jarrett Godfried (three goals) with a feed to the left of Munson.

Godfried went airborne to corral the pass and in one motion ripped it into the back of the net. Godfried also scored the middle goal in the mini-run when junior Ryder Lampert flung a pass downfield from the Kennedy end as he was falling to the ground. The pass tipped off the stick of a Colts defender right to Godfried, who took two steps and scored. Junior Max Palladino (two goals) and junior Eric Brach (one) also scored for Kennedy. “We have some athletic guys in the middle of the field that can create scoring opportunities,” Cougars coach Tom Mazeika said.

Calhoun opened the second half with three straight goals in a span of just 2:33 with sophomore Dylan Barry (two goals, two assists) scoring twice sandwiched around Zito’s second goal of the game, all as they worked the ball around the offense looking for an opportunity. “When we have something in transition we look to push it,” Feminella said. “But if we don’t, we’ll work it around for 20 seconds.”

While Munson finished the game strong with several point-blank saves, Kennedy senior Noah Wekselblatt kept his team in the game in the opening quarter with a number of big plays and finished with 18 stops. “[Munson] played very good in the fourth and saw the ball very well,” Feminella said. “And [Kennedy’s] goalie was a difference-maker.”

“Noah played outstanding especially early,” Mazeika said. “He bailed us out.”

In settled situations, the Calhoun defense was led by sophomore Paul Mamay and senior Daniel Grubb, who worked to limit the scoring chances of a Cougars’ offense that had scored 21 goals in its previous two games.

Junior Jack Roberts, who had a pair of first-half goals, opened the scoring for the Colts midway through the opening quarter off an assist from Barry. Freshman Nicholas Turrini scored unassisted with 39.2 seconds to play in the quarter, and senior Daniel Tack played beat the clock when he tallied Calhoun’s third straight goal with just 1.9 on the clock. The run continued into the second quarter when Zito shook off a stick to the face as he came around the cage and made it 4-1.