GREATER MIDDLESEX CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT FINAL
Friday, May 11, at East Brunswick
2-East Brunswick (12-5) vs. 1-Monroe (15-1), 5 p.m.
Titles won: Monroe won in 2016; East Brunswick seeks its first
How they got here: East Brunswick defeated Edison, 16-0, in the quarterfinals and then avenged a regular-season loss to St. Joseph, 11-5 in the semifinals while Monroe overpowered Bishop Ahr, 19-0, in the quarterfinals and then topped Old Bridge, the 2017 champion, 7-5, in the semifinals. Monroe has won 15 straight games since opening the season with a 9-2 loss to Ridge, ranked 18th in the NJ.com Top 20. East Brunswick enters with a four-game winning streak, which matches a season high for the Bears.
Previous meeting: Monroe encountered one of its toughest struggles this season against East Brunswick when they met April 24 in Monroe. The Falcons led just 5-4 in the first half and then carried a 7-5 lead into the fourth quarter en route to a 10-8 victory. That is the second most points allowed by Monroe's stingy defense, other than the nine scored by Ridge in the opener. Senior Jordan Perry leads that strong effort for the Falcons. Mike Cavallo and Conor Gabilanes each netted three goals and Anthony Abreu had two goals and two assists for Monroe in that first meeting with EB. Timmy Smith and Jack Solimini scored three times apiece and Tim Gudzak had two goals, two assists for East Brunswick.
Players to watch: Senior Jordan Perry, a Pace commit, anchors a Monroe defense that has allowed only 49 goals this season for an impressive 3.06 goals-against average. Only two teams have managed more than five goals against this rugged bunch, though one of them happens to be East Brunswick in a 10-8 Monroe victory. Fellow seniors Jonathan Cerbie and Kenny Fernandes, juniors Isaac Hernandez and Matt Mekhail and sophomore Mason Grossman dig in for the Falcons around sophomore goalie Josh Estavillo. He made nine saves in that 10-8 victory over East Brunswick, and he has chalked up four shutouts this season in GMC play. That's an unusually high number in sport. Junior attackman Anthony Abreu leads the offense with 36 goals, followed by junior attackman Mike Cavallo with 26, senior middie Christian Giannola with 21 and sophomore attackman Brian Kokal with 19. Cavallo is the main facilitator of this offense with a team-high 30 assists. Giannola has 24.
East Brunswick will again be calling to the faceoff skills of junior Christian Perrine in this campaign for a first GMC crown. He won 13 of 21 against Monroe in their previous meeting with help from reliable wings Joseph DeGuida and Sean Kelliher. DeGuida, the Bears' ground ball leader, also contributes to the defensive effort along with juniors Nick Randzio, Josh Green, Stephen Berman and Robert Duncan. Senior Christian Tarnofsky made nine saves in that Monroe game, though there is no guarantee he will be squaring up to Falcon shots in this game. He splits time with junior Brian McDonald. The versatile Kelliher is the steady spark for the East Brunswick offense with a team-best 46 goals and also 21 assists. Tim Gudzak, a multi-talented junior attackman, has 34 goals and 31 assists, Jack Solimini has 27 goals, six assists and fellow senior middie Timmy Smith has 22 goals and 19 assists. Gudzak is joined on the attack by seniors Nick Falletta (14 goals) and Kevin Burns (11).
Key factor: A determined D
Monroe did win the game in that first meeting this season with East Brunswick, but don't think for a second that Jordan Perry and his defensive mates were satisfied by the eight goals the Bears were able to score against them. Along with the four shutouts the Falcons have recorded, they have held eight other opponents to fewer than five goals. Perry, Hernandez, Mekhail and Co. are confident that the Monroe offense can generate enough goals to win if they hold teams to under five. Any more than that means they are probably dealing with a level of confidence that can spell big trouble.
East Brunswick, of course, wants to reproduce its formula from that first game and then see if its defense can perhaps hold the Falcons to single digits. Perrine at the faceoff X will have plenty of say there, as he did last time, so one of Monroe's first orders of business will be to either find a way to beat Perrine off the draw or at least lock him and his wingmen up between the restraining lines to limit transition opportunities.
The prediction: Monroe
Read Again http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/4197539778305017717/boys-lacrosse-2018-gmc-final-preview-east-brunswick-vs-monroe/Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Boys Lacrosse: 2018 GMC final preview - East Brunswick vs. Monroe"
Post a Comment