The LoHud Boys Lacrosse Blog

Since there’s no way to be everywhere, I often rely on the eyes and ears of those in the lacrosse community for a little help.

With that in mind, here’s a recap of the Sound Shore Lacrosse League Rockland Varsity Division championship game from Suffern’s own Phil Hammershlag. You can almost feel the adrenaline surging through his report.

Hurricanes Blue 3, Hurricanes White 2, OT: In the Sound Shore High School League Rockland Division championship game at Torne Valley Sports Complex in Hillburn, Kevin McNally scored the winning goal in a breathtaking Braveheart, after a scoreless four-minute sudden victory period. Teammate Mike Gersten had tied the game with 42 seconds left in regulation.

Matt Craig and Kyle Eastwood scored for Hurricanes White.

The goalies for both teams came up big all night long. Bryan Bergstol was the goalie for Hurricanes White and Michael Johnson was in the cage for Hurricanes Blue, both making tremendous saves throughout the contest.

Hurricanes Blue dominated in time of possession as the Hurricanes White had trouble maintaining possession in its offensive end, carelessly throwing the ball away on numerous occasions, putting tremendous pressure on the Hurricanes White defense, led by Andrew Lawson, Nick Brain, and Joseph Patyi.

The Hurricanes Blue defense, anchored by Andrew Glinsky, Eddie Puncar, and Dan Greene, played extremely well, forcing numerous turnovers and coming up with just about every ground ball.

The combatants for the Braveheart were Anton Gjeloshi for Hurricanes White and Kevin McNally for Hurricanes Blue. The face-off was won by Gjeloshi who patiently took the ball up field and fired a shot from just outside the crease which hit the post and bounced out. As Gjeloshi slipped to the turf on his follow-through, McNally easily scooped the ball and went the length of the field uncontested, where he shot the ball top-shelf, past a defenseless Bergstol.

Hurricanes Blue is comprised of Suffern High School players while the Hurricanes White squad is primarily made up of players from both Suffern and North Rockland High Schools. The familiarity between the players did not lead to a lack of intensity in this game, as there were numerous bone rattling hits throughout the game. The teams faced-off against one another on July 20th, during the Sound Shore Summer Lacrosse regular season, when the Hurricanes White defeated the Hurricanes Blue by a score of 8-5.