Pioneers Defeat Scotch Plains-Fanwood in Lacrosse Season Opener

For freshmen on the New Providence boys' lacrosse team, the regular season opener at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Friday afternoon marked their first ever varsity game. On the other side, the Raiders played their first ever game as a varsity program. By the end of the day, the Pioneers clinched their first win of the 2011 season.

New Providence, led by Head coach Vinny Carangelo, outscored Scotch Plains-Fanwood 3-1 in the fourth quarter to come away with a 5-3 victory. Sophomore Erik Wehner led the Pioneers with two goals.

"We know the fourth quarter is our time, and the guys proved it," Carangelo said. "This validates all the running and conditioning they have been doing."

New Providence began the game strong, scoring the first two goals. With seven minutes and 16 seconds left in the opening quarter, sophomore Derek Singer split two defenders and rifled the ball past Raiders' senior goalie Jason Mazunsky. Then at 4:46, Singer’s classmate Joshua Beckerman doubled the Pioneers’ lead with a shot that found room inbetween the right post and Mazunsky’s stick.

Forty seconds later, junior Dan Nizolak put Scotch Plains-Fanwood on the board with a goal right in front of the net. The Raiders controlled the tempo through the last four minutes of the quarter, but still trailed New Providence 2-1 going into the second.

Neither team was able to gain the upper hand in the second quarter, as both squads failed to score and struggled to maintain possession of the ball. The score remained 2-1 until Raiders’ sophomore Jack Cunningham tied it up with 3:51 to play in the third.

Carangelo was not pleased with his team’s low scoring output through 36 minutes of play.

"We want to be able to have more than two goals going into the fourth quarter," he said. "It’s something that we have to evaluate, because we have to put the ball in the net a little more."

The Pioneers offense settled down in the fourth though, and senior captain Rich Nelson registered his first goal of the year to give New Providence the lead for good with 7:49 to play.

Junior captain was credited with the assist. Nelson finished with a goal and an assist.

Ahead 3-2, Wehner provided New Providence with some breathing room. About a minute after Nelson’s goal, he scored on a wraparound shot to the right of Mazunsky. Then, Wehner received a pass from Nelson and notched his second goal with a spectacular mid-air shot.

"He played really tough for us and worked hard to get to the cage," Carangelo said of Wehner.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood senior Jonah Offitzer made it 5-3 Pioneers with a bounce shot that went over the stick of sophomore goalie and captain Brian Valerio. But it was not enough to mount a comeback for the Raiders and they dropped to 0-1.

New Providence out-shot Scotch Plains-Fanwood 28-16, but Carangelo thought many of his team’s shots were unnecessary.

"We were perhaps too aggressive," he said. "We want to take our shots, but we want them to be from the right places. A lot of our shots were blocked, and we have to work for more efficient shots."

The Pioneers also beat the Raiders in the battle for ground balls, 44-31. On defense, Valerio recorded six saves and earned the win.

New Providence returns to the field on Monday evening at 5:30 p.m. for its home opener against Newark Academy.