Senior Michael Burke had a career-high four assists for Wayne Valley, which picked up its first win of the season, 9-5, over Lakeland on Saturday.
WAYNE – Coming into this season with a solid defense and experienced attack players, Wayne Valley’s boys lacrosse team had lofty expectations. However, sometimes is takes a little while for a talented team to settle in. Two straight losses to start the season brought the Indians back to the drawing board with a renewed focus on working together to get back on track.
The new approach paid off with a pair of seniors leading the way. Nick Rubino had a hat trick and Michael Burke had a career-high four assists as the Indians overcame an early deficit to score eight straight goals spanning the first through fourth quarters to give Wayne Valley its first win of the season with a 9-5 victory over Lakeland on Saturday afternoon at Wayne Valley High School.
Jordon Silo scored twice in the first five minutes of the game to give the Lancers an early 2-1 lead. Then with the score tied at two late in the first quarter, one of Lakeland’s centerpieces to its attack, Cameron Chapman, went down with an injury and did not return. The Lancers were shellshocked for the remainder of the half with Burke and Rubino leading the way.
Burke hit Andrew Gurda for the go-ahead goal late in the first quarter before scoring one of his own in the second quarter. Rubino facilitated the attack throughout the game and hit Ty Cummings with a nice pass for a goal that gave the Indians a 5-2 halftime lead.
Ryan Farris had a goal and an assist for Lakeland.
“We’re a young team and we’ve gotten off to some slow starts, but we picked it up in the second quarter and especially in the second half,” said Rubino. “Our schedule is not easy, and we must be more consistent. This was not the start we expected for our season. We have to keep working through it. It was nice to get a win under our belt and take a positive step forward.”
Wayne Valley (1-2) got stronger as the game went on. Rubino scored the lone goal for either team in the third quarter before a pair of goals by Brayden Dunne put the game away. Rubino finished off the eight-goal run with a blistering shot from distance for a 9-2 lead.
Ryan Farris had a goal and an assist for Lakeland (0-3). Silo completed the hat trick with just over a minute to play. Ryan Van Allen also scored for the” Lancers.
With the first win out of the way and tough games coming up this week against Ridge and Mahwah, the Indians hope this performance is a sign of things to come for the reigning Passaic County Tournament champions.
“When we started moving the ball and controlling the tempo we found success,” said Wayne Valley head coach Tommy Pellegrino. “I thought we played well defensively. We were physical and forced a lot of turnovers. We’re a slow starting team and that has to get better. We have talent here and we need to put our foot on the gas earlier in games. To reach our full potential, we have to stretch out the way we played in the second and third quarters for a full 48 minutes. It’s something we’ll keep working towards.”
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT CLICK HERE! TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
