By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
PAWLING, N.Y. --- With three-straight New England West Division I co-championships to its credit, it's sometimes difficult to tell one great lacrosse team from another at the Salisbury School. Like the rolling hills and verdant mountain landscapes that mark their remote, northwestern Connecticut home, success for the Knights seems to go on forever.
But with 11 NCAA Division I recruits in its lineup for 2007, Salisbury is hoping it can take its accomplishments even further this spring. Though there are no New England Private School Athletic Council playoffs in lacrosse, there is always a consensus for best in show when a team stands far above the others.
Salisbury, which is off to a 3-0 start, is hoping to be such a team this spring. The Knights won their third in a row on Wednesday - their first against another NE West I opponent - as they captured a grueling 10-7 decision here from host Trinity-Pawling.
The game was taped in its entirety by the MSG-TV network and will be televised throughout the region beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday (April 15).
Trinity-Pawling coach Joe Tweed was one of those most impressed by what he saw from Salisbury, which jumped to an early and awe-inspiring 5-1 lead in the first quarter before T-P played the Knights to a gritty standoff for the remainder of the match.
"Salisbury is a very strong and physical team, with a great deal of depth," Tweed said.
"They played like a team in ways they have not in prior seasons. The scores over the last three years and the games for that matter were all similar. They have good shooters and can spread a team out.
"But," Tweed cautioned, "as we demonstrated, (Salisbury) is beatable if you control the ball and do not give up senseless turnovers that they can quickly capitalize on. They are stronger run-and-gun than six v. six."
The Salisbury attack was led by Ohio State recruit Bryce Woodson, who also helped the Knights to a place atop the NEPSAC football world last fall during an undefeated run. Woodson registered two goals and two assists, while Peter McNichols (headed for UMass) had a goal and two assists, and Navy-bound Kevin Doyle scored three goals.
Garrett Ince, who will play at Virginia next season, scored twice for Salisbury, as did Georgetown recruit David Shriver. Goalie Alex Samaniego (headed for Navy), Jamie Macdonald (Denver), Max Brindle (Drexel), Kyle Smith (Holy Cross), Thomas Dalton (West Point Prep) and Rob Maiorano (Navy) are among Salisbury's other top players, though the defenseman Maiorano missed the T-P game due to a bruised shoulder.
"We've had some pretty good success in recent years, but we feel this is a very good team ours this season,'' said Salisbury coach Bobby Wynne, the sixth-year coach who previously coached college lacrosse at Cornell, Hobart, Hampton-Sydney and Virginia Wesleyan.
"This is as talented a team as we've ever had. But then you look at the other teams around our league and everyone has talent. It's very, very competitive: Deerfield (a two-time co-champ with Salisbury), Loomis (last season's co-champ), Avon, Hotchkiss, they're all going to be one or two-goal games this season. You saw what Trinity-Pawling was able to do today. These other games are going to be absolute wars."
The Salisbury/Trinity-Pawling game was a bit of a war itself after T-P nearly erased its early 5-1 deficit. Several times during the second half, veteran referees Ralph Baldelli and Pete Kohut had to remind players on both teams to maintain their cool in the heat of battle.
Trinity-Pawling drew to within 5-4 late in the first half before Salisbury increased its lead to two goals just prior to intermission. Though the Knights kept T-P from getting dangerously close in the second half, the Salisbury lead was never fully safe, either. It remained a two and three-goal game until the end; Trinity-Pawling never allowed Salisbury to go full throttle following its game-opening burst.
"Trinity-Pawling is very athletic defensively. In my heart, I was hoping they wouldn't do it, but they got us out of our offensive rhythm," Wynne said.
"This is what happened and you have to give them a tremendous amount of credit: Trinity-Pawling chases you around defensively. They get you out of your game. Instead of just making the easy play, our kids are looking for an assist. By (T-P) forcing the pace, we end up forcing the pace, too, instead of just playing our natural offense. I didn't feel we had trouble scoring when we ran our offense and were allowed to run our offense. We just weren't allowed to get into it very often after we had that good start."
Tweed, too, credited his defense for helping jump-start the Trinity-Pawling effort. The Lions feature a lineup that includes Division I recruits Jake Padilla (Hobart), Jon Esposito (Bellarmine), Chris Andrea (Robert Morris), Ryan Herits (St. John's), and Chris Carter (Mount St. Mary's-Maryland).
"Our defense was excellent; if you take away two minutes in the first quarter, the outcome may have been quite different," Tweed said.
"Salisbury scored five in the first quarter and five over the next three. We had many chances to win the game. They capitalized on their chances. We needed to finish on a couple (shots) that their goalie (Samaniego) came up big on. We also stayed out of the penalty box, which was key. I think we were fairly matched and our kids played hard, as did the boys from Salisbury. The game was what I expected, though I would have liked us to have pulled it out."
Challenges like the one offered by Trinity-Pawling is what Salisbury can expect all season in the NE West I.
"Not only is there a tremendous amount of talent in our league, but you have some tremendous coaches," said Wynne. "Chris Burchfield (Hotchkiss), Jim Wilson (Loomis), Chip Davis (Deerfield), these are great coaches with great traditions who consistently find great players. You get very few breaks on our schedule. Everybody is ready to play you."
Everyone loves to play a champion.
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Master Photographer for the Southern New England area and a Northeast Region columnist. He may be reached at (203) 563-2297 or at j.stout@jmstout.org
