By Matt Florjancic
MaxPreps.com
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – Last season, the Rocky River Pirates earned the No. 4 seed in Region 1 of the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association playoffs. They fought Chagrin Falls to the end in the first round and won 9-7 over the Tigers. However, the dream of advancing to the Regional Final ended at the hands of University School two nights later.
The Preppers scored early and often against the Pirates, claiming the 17-1 victory and moving on in the postseason. University School lost to eventual Division II champion, Mariemont.
The Pirates are using that playoff setback and a 15-3 loss to University School in the 2007 regular season as motivation. They look at the University School game as a way to show how much they’ve improved on last year’s 7-11 record.
“In terms of games, our next biggest game we’ll play is versus U.S.,” senior attacker Alex Corvey said Friday afternoon. “They took it to us twice last year, once in the regular season and once in the off-season. We’re definitely hungry [and] looking for a victory against them. We’re going to be home this year.”
The much-anticipated rematch between Rocky River and University School will take place on May 22. It is the regular season finale for both teams and will serve as the last tune-up before the playoffs begin.
At 5-0, Rocky River is off to its best start in the program’s short history. This year’s senior class of Pirates were part of the school’s first-ever lacrosse team in 2005. Since that time, players like Corvey and fellow attacker Drew Ridgeway have gone from starters as freshmen to leaders as seniors.
“Drew and Alex are seniors this year and they have come up through the program the last four years,” said Pirates coach Jack Hull. “They both were starters as freshmen. They were both very young and very immature. They have become very mature seniors. They keep the team together. They pull them together when we get down.”
As juniors a year ago, these two captains played in all 18 of Rocky River’s games. Corvey led the team with 40 goals and 54 total points. He also handed out 14 assists.
Ridgeway was third on the team with 33 goals and 52 points, but topped all passers with 19 assists.
“I want an even better year this year,” Hull said. “I made sure that they both practiced all summer long. I wanted them to make sure that they were both going left and right equally as well.
“We’ve got a possibility of going further in the playoffs than we did last year and we got to round two,” he added. “I don’t know whether we can go all the way, but we’re going to give it a shot.”
The Pirates started the year with consecutive home victories against Bay Village (15-4) and West Geauga (13-3). In the Bay Village game, Corvey and Ridgeway combined for seven goals and nine assists. Then, Rocky River took its act on the road, defeating the Mentor Cardinals (15-4) and Gilmour Academy (11-10).
“The momentum’s riding with us,” Ridgeway said. “We’re having a great time right now. We’re staying focused at practice. We’re staying focused for our games. We’re just hoping to keep going.
“We’ve really come together since practicing back in February,” he added. “When we first got together, we didn’t have the field. We were outside practicing in the parking lot. It was just not good, but now that the season’s started, we’ve really come together and it’s been great.”
The victory at Gilmour was especially sweet for Corvey. The Pirates had been relying on two young goalies during the early part of the year and both have emerged as athletes ready to play in pressure situations.
“It was a great accomplishment for us as a team,” Corvey said of the win against Gilmour. “We really came together for that victory and I hope we can continue winning this season. The victory against Gilmour was probably the biggest win I think we’ll have all season. We had lost to them the two previous years and it was just really nice to get them back.
“We have two goalies, Tom Dickey and Dan Schiau,” Corvey added. “Dan Schiau’s a freshman. He played the whole game versus Gilmour. He played really well. Our other goalie, Tom Dickey, he’s brand new to being goalie and he’s really stepped up so far and taken that leadership position in the cage against the other teams.”
“He’s been playing a lot,” Ridgeway said of Schiau. “Hopefully, he’s going to be gaining a lot of skills and some leadership qualities as the season goes on.”
Both goalies saw playing time against the Bees of Brecksville-Broadview Heights Friday evening in Rocky River. The Pirates scored early and set the tone for the entire contest, winning 16-4.
Ridgeway initiated the scoring with a goal 27 seconds into the game. He added two more goals in the second quarter and a fourth in the final frame.
Not to be outdone by his classmate, Corvey sent five goals to the back of the net. The first came with 8:27 remaining in the first quarter and added another 14 seconds later. In the third quarter, Corvey rolled his fifth goal of the game past the Bees goalie.
The Shaker Heights Raiders and Benedictine Bengals travel to Rocky River this week with the chance to hand the Pirates their first loss of the season. Benedictine is 1-4 overall with a game at Revere preceding the match-up with Rocky River Friday night.
While opponents focus on solving Rocky River’s attack, the Pirates will continue working toward perfection.
“Alex [and I] have both been captains since our junior year,” Ridgeway said. “We’ve been waiting for this season for quite some time now. We’re expecting to have a really good season.
“When we first started the program four years ago, I was a freshman,” added Ridgeway. “For the most part, a lot of the freshman kids that I played with made up most of the team and we’ve been progressing these past four years.”
“Going undefeated would be a good way to end my senior year as a player,” said Corvey. “[I want] to have fun and finish out the year strong. As a team, we’ve learned every game is a new game. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. You can go out and win real big or you can have a close game like we did with Gilmour.”
Matt Florjancic, a freelance reporter and a sports show host for WOBL and WDLW, covers Northern Ohio for MaxPreps.com.
