June
6, 2003
March 21,
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| Patrick Ryan helped the Delbarton defense shut down the Ridgewood attack and also scored a goal. | |
OAKLAND - If you look up the word dominate in the dictionary, one of the definitions would be "to have or exert mastery, control, or preeminence." In Thursday's state lacrosse semifinal at Indian Hills High School against Ridgewood, Delbarton was the essence of that definition.
The defending state champion Green Wave were faster and stronger both mentally and physically, and it spelled a 12-2 thrashing of the Maroons in a rematch of last season's state final won by Delbarton, 6-4.
How dominant
were they? Check out the numbers behind the score. Delbarton outshot Ridgewood
by a whopping 24-6 in the first half when they took a 9-0 lead. They won 8
of 10 faceoffs (13 of 15 over the entire game) and held Ridgewood to just
two shots over the final 20 minutes of the first half.
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| Mark Hammitt scored one of four goals on Delbarton's first six shots that broke the game open. |
"The game is all about possession," Green Wave head coach Chuck Ruebling said, "and we did a great job of possessing the ball."
So much so that it took Ridgewood (16-5) right out of the game from the beginning. Tyler Gaffney got the Wave going with an unassisted tally 1:45 into the game and, after Ridgewood threw four shots up on their following possession, it was all Delbarton.
"I thought
we were going to come out pretty hot," Ridgewood attackman Scott Dunn said,
"but we came out flat and they were fired up. I felt we had an advantage that
they weren't going to take us seriously (after a 12-4 win in the regular season).
The way this rivalry goes, one wins in the regular season and the other in
the postseason, and I thought it was going to go back to that, but they had
the upper hand."
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| Ridgewood goalie Mike Cozza faced 24 shots in the first half alone. |
Reade Seligmann and Mark Hammitt added unassisted goals before Gaffney scored off a feed from Hammitt to make it 4-0 on just six shots with 2:58 left in the opening period. From that point on, it was a somewhat shellshocked Ridgewood team.
Head coach Mike Pounds was forced to use both of his first half timeouts after Delbarton goals to try and shake his team, but the Green Wave kept coming with five second quarter scores. Ned Crotty, Patrick Ryan (off a Fred Krom rebound), Matt McBride, Seligmann and Gaffney (from Crotty) all beat beleaguered Ridgewood goalie Mike Cozza.
When Gaffney
nailed his fourth with 2:21 left in the third, it put the clock into running
time and it became a matter of whether or not the Maroons could avoid a shutout
for the first time ever in state tournament play.
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| A Tim Campell goal gave top-seeded Delbarton an 11-0 lead. |
Tim Campbell made it 11-0 off a Crotty assist before Dunn scored unassisted with 5:03 to go after a run on the right side. The teams traded goals after that, with Tim Vecchione scoring unassisted for Delbarton and Dunn netting his 61st goal (a single-season school record) unassisted with 52 seconds remaining.
"Sitting March 1st, I would not have believed we would have gotten here," Dunn said. "There were games were I wasn't sure we'd get to .500, but this team pulled together and stepped up. I'm real proud."
Pounds
also looked at the big picture, saying that, "it was a long season mentally,
and with the weather and the injuries we had to overcome, it was tough, but
the team showed a lot of character and toughness to get this far.
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| Zach Pucci and the Ridgewood offense found little open space. |
"We played two solid state games in beating Moorestown and Chatham, and all we were looking to do was play a better game than the last one. I knew we had to play our best and that Delbarton had to be a bit off, and it didn't work out that way, but for this team to be here was a tremendous accomplishment."
The Maroons played without middies Rob Nelson (back) and Greg Sprich (broken cheekbone) and lost Chad Pouliot during the game with an ankle injury. In addition, Evan Brady (knee surgery) was still not 100 percent.
"The injuries were too much to overcome, but they were the better team without a doubt," Pounds added.
For
more
pictures from this game check out the NJS.com School
Store!
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