by Michelle Rabinovich
St. Anthony’s Friars won a tight overtime battle, 10-9, against the Chaminade Flyers for the Catholic High School Athletic Association Class AAA championship title Hofstra University’s James M. Shuart Stadium on Tuesday, May 17.
The Flyers won the initial draw control, setting up Chaminade’s attacker Charles Balsamo to be the first to make the scoreboard when he netted a goal just 76 seconds into play. The Flyers were quickly met with opposition when the Friars went on a rampage, scoring three unanswered goals in the next three minutes. With only under three and a half minutes, the Flyers responded with 3:20 left on the clock, and then slyly slid in another goal with 32.8 seconds left in the frame. Friars’ attacker Owen Duffy didn’t let the two teams go into the second quarter tied at three as he found the back of the Flyers’ net with 19.9 seconds to spare.
The second quarter told a narrative run by the Flyers, who stepped up efforts on both sides of the field. While blocking over half a dozen shots, Chaminade stepped up their offense when Balsamo netted a goal just under six minutes into the frame. The rest of the quarter was filled with the ball flying back and forth across the field as the two teams constantly traded possession. The Friars put a stop to the back-and-forth when junior midfielder Jack Ponzio netted a goal with 84 seconds left in the second quarter. The Flyers responded with a goal two seconds before the buzzer sounded, concluding the first half of the championship match, with the score tied at five.
The Friars came out of halftime red-hot when the first score to land was 74 seconds after the third quarter commenced. Duffy followed up with another goal 54 seconds later, and then attacker Jack Speidell continued the string of unanswered goals with his second goal of the day, just 87 seconds later. Flyers’ senior attacker Christian Rodriguez countered with a goal of his own, one that slid in as if he was playing golf on the field. Even that was too much, as Duffy completed a hat trick with five and a half minutes left in the quarter, leaving the score at 9-6 Friars leading.
“[The team] felt great, we started out strong, and, you know, third quarter we were up three at one point,” said St. Anthony men’s lacrosse head coach Keith Wieczorek, commending his team’s strength and cohesion on the field.
The Flyers had a comeback fourth quarter, leaving the Friars scoreless throughout the entire 12-minute segment while they scored three back-to-back goals. Both team’s goalies amped up their defenses, leaving the players no choice but to go into overtime.
During the four-minute-long overtime period, the Friars dominated ball possession, which helped them tip the score in their favor when senior midfielder Christopher McCabe took the game-winning shot with 1:57 left to play.
“We just kept fighting until the end and we were finally able to get that last ball,” Wieczorek said. “We were very patient, shared the ball, and had a great finish.”
