Boys Lax Sails into County Final

SUMMIT–The Summit boys lacrosse team scored six first quarter goals in an impressive 12-0 shutout over Cranford on Wednesday afternoon in the Union County Tournament semifinals. With the win, the Hilltoppers improved to 16-0 on the season and increased their winning streak to 38 consecutive games.

"We had played a lot–four games in seven days–so I gave the team the weekend off to get away from it a bit," Summit head coach Jim Davidson said. "We had a great practice yesterday and I thought today we looked lively–all the kids played hard. We'll need to keep it up-tempo going into Friday's game and into the state playoffs next week."

Summit started scoring early and simply could not be stopped. Senior Marcel Godino fired a lightening-fast shot in the upper corner of the net just one minute into the game. During the next three minutes of play, senior Johnny Scioscia assisted Jake Hall and Nick Kilkowski for the 3-0 lead.

After winning their third face off of the game, Summit found the back of the net once again when Tim Yager scored at the 6:39 mark. Although Cranford won the following face off, Summit defender Ryan Troy made a takeaway check and retrieved the ground ball to give his team possession. Summit capitalized on the offensive opportunity and gained a 5-0 lead off of a goal by sophomore Tommy Celmer.

Cranford's Stephen DiGiovanni tested Summit goalie Brian Feeney at the three minute mark with a low shot, but the senior came up with a great save. With 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Scioscia tallied his third assist when he found a cutting Kilkowski for the score. After 12 minutes of play, Summit led 6-0.

Scioscia continued navigating the field and finding his teammates in the second quarter. The senior racked up his fourth and fifth assists of the game when he found a cutting Godino for a goal at the 8:11 mark, and just 42 seconds later, hit Nolan Prinzen for the low bouncing shot to give Summit an 8-0 lead.

The Hilltoppers kept winning face offs and pressuring Cranford's defense. With 6:02 remaining in the first half, Godino made a crisp skip pass to Kilkowski for the transition goal. Just 11 seconds before the halftime horn sounded, Summit's Michael Ford slipped a nice pass to senior Jake Hall, who scored his second high bouncing shot of the game.

"When I shoot, I always try to change planes and keep the goalie guessing," Hall said.

Summit's Brian Feeney made two clutch second quarter saves, including one at the buzzer, to protect the Hilltoppers' shutout over the Cougars. At the half, Summit led 10-0.

The Hilltoppers continued their scoring prowess early in the second half when Yager netted his second goal of the game just 47 seconds into the half. Eight minutes later, Summit's Celmer assisted Nick Kitsos for the goal to give the Hilltoppers a 12-0 advantage.

The remainder of the game was all about Summit's defense. In the third quarter, defenders Ed Engel, Jules Godino, and Ryan Troy did a nice job containing Cranford's DiGiovanni, who will play at Hofstra next year.

In the fourth quarter, solid goalkeeping by Hilltoppers Pete Badgley and George Campbell, as well as aggressive defensive play by Rob Williams, Kevin McNany, Brandon Jackson, and Wyatt Bebout, helped the team preserve the 12-0 shutout.

"We have a great defense, so we're confident against any team," Hall said. "Offensively, we knew that Cranford might throw some zones or man at us, so we just took what they gave us and tried to get the ball in the back of the net."

Summit advances to the UCT finals to face Westfield, a team they narrowly defeated, 9-7, earlier in the season.

"We're looking forward to playing Westfield again because we didn't feel as though we had our best game against them earlier in the season," Hall added.

The UCT finals will be held this Friday at A.L. Johnson High School at 7:30 p.m.