Boys lacrosse: Stepinac comes back with a vengeance for win at Iona Prep
NEW ROCHELLE – Stepinac continues to meet the great expectations.
After heading into the second half down a goal on Tuesday, the Crusaders got organized and played like a team that understands the impact of meaningful experience and marquee talent. The comeback unfolded in a hurry, resulting in a 9-7 win over Iona Prep.
Even the postgame celebration was measured.
“We have to play them twice, so the second time will be at our house now,” Stepinac goalie Denny Piekutowski said of a potential CHSAA playoff meeting. “It’s obviously a big win for us, but there is more important stuff ahead.”
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There were plenty of adrenaline-fueled miscues in the early going, typical of a heated rivalry.
Dylan Reese found a seam and scored 11 seconds before the intermission to give the Gaels a 5-4 edge, but that momentum evaporated in a matter of minutes. Iona Prep was down 8-5 just four minutes into the second half and 9-5 at the end of the third quarter.
“We like to make the game hectic,” said Aidan Bross, who netted two goals during the run. “We like to play fast and quick. Once the shots start landing, I feel like we’re unstoppable.”
Composure is a good thing.
“We just had to settle down,” Bross added. “It’s Iona Prep-Stepinac, probably the biggest rivalry in the Westchester area. It gets into your head pretty quick, but once we settled in, we realized it was just another game.”
Almost.
“We made a bunch of little mistakes in the second quarter and when we cleaned that up at halftime and got a little momentum, everything changed,” Crusaders head coach James Goldmann said. “The fourth quarter, it’s still Iona Prep and Stepinac, so it’s always going to be weird. We did our best to make it interesting, but we closed it out and that’s huge.”
What it means
There’s a strong possibility these teams will meet again next month for the CHSAA New York AA title, and the Gaels are only a couple of steps behind. Every minute logged against upcoming opponents will help an inexperienced defense. The underclassmen at the other end will become more dangerous, too.
“We lack field presence and poise because they are so young, but we’re much better than we were at the beginning of the year and we’ll be much better than we are now at the end of the year,” Iona Prep head coach Rick Trizano said. “They’re good lacrosse players. They’ll figure it out.”
Player of the game
Piekutowski left with some black and blue souvenirs along with 15 saves.
By the numbers
Stepinac (7-1): Andrew Girolamo also scored twice during the decisive run, finishing with three goals. … Bross had two goals and two assists. … Brady Sharkey also netted a pair of goals. … Mikey Oronzio handed out a pair of assists. … Tommy Cottrell and Cole Mayclim added one goal apiece.
Iona Prep (4-3): Tim Plunkett netted two goals. … Brandon Blenk, Billy Haggerty, Crew Davis, Will Scala and Reese each scored once. … Rocco Portante made 11 saves.
They said it
“We all started young and our freshman year they were a powerhouse and kinda dogged us on the field,” Bross said. “Now that we’ve played them three and four years straight, we understand what they do and we’re ready to play. I feel like we’re ready for any team in the country.”
“Denny, it’s like he’s on and off, on and off,” Goldmann said of the junior goalie. “He picked a very good day to be on again. He’s faced every shot for the last three years, so there’s nothing he hasn’t seen. This was a big moment for Denny and I’m happy for him because he deserves it.”
Mike Dougherty covers boys lacrosse for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com. Follow along on Twitter @lohudlacrosse.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Stepinac tops Iona Prep 9-7 in CHSAA boys lacrosse
