By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
GREENWICH, Conn. --- Losing your starting goalie to a fractured collarbone is hardly the way to shore up your defense for a run in the postseason.
Why then was Greenwich High boys lacrosse coach Paul Burke smiling on Wednesday after his second-seeded Cardinals had stymied No. 7 Ridgefield, 11-3, in a FCIAC quarterfinal playoff game?
For starters, sophomore goalie Kyle Feeney stepped in for injured senior starter Dan Rosenzweig and limited Ridgefield's explosive attack to three goals, all of which came after Greenwich (14-3) had built a 7-0 second-quarter lead.
Secondly, the Greenwich defense, led by all-conference picks Jon Meyers and Bob Sullivan, did not allow either of Ridgefield's top two attackmen, Matt White and Matt Biehl, to score. That is not an easy task, given that White and Biehl are two of the FCIAC's better offensive players.
Furthermore, Greenwich held Ridgefield (7-9) to three goals after Ridgefield had netted 13 in a wild 17-13 Greenwich victory May 12 in Ridgefield.
Why does all of this matter?
If Greenwich is to have a legitimate chance of getting past Wilton in the semifinal round and beating nationally-ranked Darien in the conference championship game May 29, its defense is going to have to shine.
No one will ever question the Cardinals' ability to score and score in bunches, not with the likes of sophomore Jared Horowitz (5 goals in the quarterfinal win, 48 for the season), Jim Dunster, Tucker Stafford and Matt Feeney.
But Greenwich has been periodically prone to defensive letdowns and surrendering space on defense. Letdowns at this time of year can ruin an entire post season.
Greenwich already proved it could compete with top-ranked Darien, dropping an 8-7 decision to the Blue Wave last week at home. Now it would like to have the chance to beat Darien.
First, however, Greenwich has to play Wilton on Friday at 5:15 p.m. in Game 1 of the FCIAC semifinals at McMahon, in Norwalk. Darien and New Canaan will meet in the second game at 7:30 p.m.
'We can definitely put the ball in the goal,' Burke said. 'But we want to make sure that we're running and creating opportunities at the right time. The less pressure we put on our goalie the better. Obviously in a high pace, run up and down the field type of game, we're likely to be giving up more shots. We want to avoid that. We feel our six on six defenders are pretty good.'
Burke would like nothing better than to have Rosenzweig available in goal for the conference playoffs and state tournament. But prior to Greenwich's final regular-season game last week, his starting goalie was hit with a shot during warm-ups and incurred a cracked collarbone, sidelining Rosenzweig for the remainder of his scholastic career.
But Feeney, the younger brother of Greenwich's star junior midfielder, excelled immediately against a Ridgefield offense that had rallied from deficits of 5-1 and 10-4 to tie the score the last time the two teams met.
'I thought (Kyle Feeney) played with a lot of poise,' Burke said. 'Three goals against, I'll be happy with that all tournament long. And he cleared the ball really well, which is even better. He got the ball out of the crease. We have some kids who can play. It's only a matter of getting it to them.
'He's practiced with us all year long,' Burke added. 'We know he's capable of making some incredible saves. He's a hard guy for our guys to score on anyway. If we have three all-FCIAC guys on offense and they're having trouble scoring on him in practice, you know he's good.'
Stafford, Horowitz, Dunster and Bob Pruett scored first-quarter goals on Kyle Feeney's behalf to stake Greenwich to a 4-0 first-quarter lead. One goal by Sean Sutton and two by Jake Clarke ran the Cards' advantage to 7-0 against Ridgefield goalie Bobby Tonnessen before Pat Ohrem and Colin Scott responded prior to intermission.
Matt Walsh narrowed Ridgefield's deficit to 7-3 after three quarters before Horowitz exploded for his 45th, 46th, 47th and 48th goals of the season in the final quarter.
'Jared has been doing that all year long for us,' Burke said. 'I think he's the first all-FCIAC sophomore ever from Greenwich High. He had eight (goals) against these guys during the regular season so we knew they might have trouble guarding him again. Not much can change that quickly in two weeks. He has a lot of patience in front of the goal.
'We lost our focus for a little while there and allowed (Ridgefield) to get back in it,' Burke added. 'They're good enough to be able to do that. They certainly have two attackmen who are as good as anybody. We had to challenge (the defense) a little today because I thought Ridgefield got the advantage on us during the regular season. The defense had to step up and play today and they certainly did.'
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Media Manager for the East Region. He may be reached at 203-563-2297 or at j.stout@jmstout.org
