Boys lacrosse: Bridgewater-Raritan keeps win streak alive
BRIDGEWATER - The winning continues for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys lacrosse team.
The Panthers (9-0) stretched their win streak to 32 games, stemming from last season's undefeated 23-0 run that culminated with a Tournament of Champions title, with an 8-7 victory over Montgomery on Wednesday afternoon.
Montgomery (8-2) came close to halting that streak, leading 7-6 with 8:10 remaining in the game. With 2:16 to play, Ryan Kaden scored on an assist from Alden Christensen to tie the game 7-7. The Cougars won the ensuing faceoff and put the ball in the stick of Matt Stagnitta, but Bridgewater-Raritan's Nick Grill caused a turnover with about a minute remaining, which set up Sean MacKinney's game-winning goal with two seconds left.
"That kid (Stagnitta) is an unbelievable player and I just had to make something happen," Grill said. "I knew the slide was coming because you can't just play one-on-one with that kid, I really didn't want him to get the ball so he could make a play, but he got it and I just played the defense that we were playing and trusted my teammates with that."
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Montgomery drew a penalty after the turnover, and Bridgewater-Raritan played man-up for almost a minute. MacKinney finally found his shot as time was about to expire, and scored the game-winner on an assist from his brother, Dan.
"We just needed to settle the ball, get it around, give our defense a break, they were working pretty much the whole time, and just play our game," Sean MacKinney said. "Coach (Chuck) Apel was talking about getting to the pipe, the backside pipe, and I just saw the opening and I took it."
The Cougars, which had a five-game winning streak snapped, started the game strong, taking a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on goals from Chase Galatro, Wyatt Colangelo and Dan Engels. Bridgewater-Raritan didn't stay down for long, as MacKinney and Kaden staged a three-goal comeback in a two-minute span in the second quarter to tie the game 3-3 with 6:47 to play in the half.
With 54 seconds remaining before halftime, Brian Kolen scored on an assist from Alden Christensen to put the Panthers ahead for the first time all game, 4-3. Kyle Marrapodi scored on an assist from Stagnitta to retie the game 4-4 with 11 seconds left, but not to be outdone, MacKinney scored his third of the day on an assist from Ethan Christensen with three seconds to go to give Bridgewater-Raritan a 5-4 lead at halftime.
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"Playing behind we were a little more hungry, I think we were a little more tense," Grill said. "We fed the crease a lot and that wasn't getting anything done, but playing behind we were a little more hungry and we just tried to make things happen and we got it done, Sean played an unbelievable game and we got it done, I'm happy about that."
In the third quarter it was all Montgomery, as the Cougars took a 6-5 lead on goals by Colangelo and Marrapodi. Ethan Locker scored just over two minutes into the fourth quarter to retie the game 6-6, and with 8:10 to play Marrapodi scored his third goal of the day on an assist from Stagnitta to put the Cougars ahead 7-6.
Zach Masessa won 8-of-17 faceoffs for Montgomery, while Joe Lenskold and Trevor Herbst combined to win nine for the Panthers.
"In the future, as the teams get better that we play and playoffs, we will have more experience with close games," Kolen said of the experience the Panthers gained on Wednesday. "So we might be calmer, but it's definitely something that we work on in the moments when it gets hectic."
Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego
Bridgewater-Raritan 8, Montgomery 7
GOALS: (BR) MacKinney 4, Kaden 2, Kolen, Locker; (M) Marrapodi 3, Colangelo 2, Galatro, Engels; ASSISTS: (BR) A. Christensen 2, E. Christensen, Kolen, Kelly, D. MacKinney; (M) Stagnitta 4, Colangeo 2; SAVES: (BR) O'Neil 11; (M) Yanovitch 14.