6th Grade "Grey" Win 3 In A Row

The sixth grade boys lacrosse "Grey" team is going into its fourth week of league 3 and 0 with convincing wins over perennial lacrosse power houses, cold spring harbor, Manhasset, and Half Hollow Hills.

The season opened with a much anticipated match against Cold Spring Harbor on April 22nd. Coaches Joe Guterding, John Mcdaid, Rich Muller, and Mike Dooley obviously prepared their team well for the contest with their boys coming out strong taking a quick 5 to 0 lead in the first few minutes of play against a very formidable opponent. CSH's defense was left scratching their helmets and wondering what had just hit them. Although CSH would eventually rally, it was a total team effort in the 12 to 7 victory from start to finish.

Attackmen Lucas Clay (2gs, 1a, 1gb), Justin Guterding (3gs, 2as, 4gbs), Jack Metzler (1g, 2gbs), Matt Vitale (1gb), Dan Weiss (1gb) Petey Kerantzas, and Brendan Fitzsimmons were relentless and worked the CSH defense with skillful passing and ball control.

Middies JJ McDaid (3gs, 9gbs), Tim Muller(2gs, 3as, 2gbs), Matt Schmelzinger(1g, 2as,6gbs), Spencer Bais(2gbs), John Walcyzk(1a,3gbs), and Mouse Magdich(1gb), supported both the attack and defensive lines in a near flawless performance.

Joe Stone (2gbs), Kyle Skramko (2gbs), Mark Lamarr, Ryan Dooley(3gbs), Eric Sundius and Matt Haeffner were tough on "d" throughout frustrating csh's offense.

Matt cortese was outstanding in goal with 15 saves, including some point blank shots, against a fine csh attack.

Just a few day's later on wednesday, april 25th, the boys travelled to manhasset to take on their arch rivals under the lights, but in a driving rainstor, for a mini woodstick, which as expected, was a classic.

With poor field conditions it was a challenge for both teams to gain much scoring momentum. Manhasset tallied first, but justin guterding(1g,3as,2gbs), resonded quickly with an incredible behind the back shot to even the score at one early in the game.

Despite the heavy winds and driving rain, the middies were tireless controlling most of the polay in the middle of the field throughout the contest and on attack by scooping up the ground balls on the slick turf surface in both ends.

As coach mcdaid is often heard sayiny "defense" wins ball games, and there was no truer statement that would characterize gc's win over manhasset this night.

Middie tim muller(3gs,1a,1gb), had the first of his three goals in the second quarter putting gc ahead 2 to 1. Jj mcdaid had 5gbs and matty schmelzinger, one goal and 7gbs in the winn ing effort. Tenacious middies john walcyzk, spencer baisand mouse magdich all played tough grabbing two ground balls each and well timed steals thwarting manhasset's offense.

But manhasset, never one to give up, kept the pressure on gc's defense throughout. They tied the score at 2 with just a few moments before the end of the first half. Wanting to go into the break with the momentum, coaches guterding/mcdaid/muller/dooley called a timeout to set up a polay on a crucial possession on a ground ball picked up by jj mcdaid in manhasset's end.

Gutty took the ball and executed the play perfectly with a precision pass to jack metzler (1g,1a) for the go ahead goal just as the half ended.

Manhasset gave gc a run for the money in the second half, but a tremendous defensive effort led by joe stone, with some key steals and 6 gbs, would prevent manhasset from breaking away. So good were the defensive efforts of matt haeffner(3gbs, kyle skramko (1gb), mark lamarr, and eric sundius that even with a two man advantage in the third quarter, manhasset's offense couldn't break through to take a shot on net.

When manhasset did shoot matt "the wall" cortese(9saves), came up big with the save time and time again then making perfect outlet passes to drew magdich, ryan dooley, eric sundius, and brendan fitzsimmons which clearly frustrated the manhasset offens and fans!

Gc energized by their defensive momentum would capitalize on their scoring opportunities in the second half with three more goals, one from speedster matty schmelzinger and two from timmy muller to go up by two a lead they would hold for the win.

Lucas clay(2gbs), matt vitale(1gb), petey kerantzas(1gb), and dan weis controlled the ball on attack throughout the game playing it out for the win with a final score of 6 to 4.

This past sunday team grey travelled to dix hills to take on suffolk county power half hollow hills for their third contest of the season where they roared to a convincing 8 to 4 victory.

Justin guterding(2gs,2as,4gbs), lucas clay(2gs,4gbs), jack metzler, peter kerantzas, matt vitale, dan weiss,brendan fitsimmons, exhibited fine stickwork and made passes that were sharp and on target. The middies and attack worked the ball around the horn until the opportunity was right for the shot and score.

Instrumental in the win were jj mcdaid (8gbs), john walczyk(1g,1a,5gbs), winning the faceoffs which allowed gc to maintain possession of the ball and thus the advantage throughout. Supporting that effort were middies matt schmelzinger(6gbs), timmy muller(2gs,2as,3gbs), spencer bais(1as,2gbs), and andrew "mouse" magdich(1g,1a) who worked the transition from "d" to offense with precision.

When hhh was able to grab a ball gc's defense prevented them from capitalizing on their possession. Joe stone(8gbs), and kyle skramko(3gbs), came up with some big steals and clears keeping the ball out of half hollow hill's reach. Matt cortese repeated his prior two impressive showings with 11 key saves asnd excellant clears to matt haeffner, eric sundius, ryan dooley, and mark lamarr.

The boys take another hike out to suffolk county this coming weekend for a tough match against an undefeated three village team. Go GC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!