By Steve Tober
Correspondent
MONTCLAIR – Montclair Kimberley Academy’s boys lacrosse team has had a long tradition of sending its Cougar laxmen onto the college ranks to continue playing the game they love. Two more seniors are set to play at the next level, with attackman Ryan Dancy of Glen Ridge headed to Rhodes (Memphis, Tenn.) College.
“Ryan is a terrific young man who loves lacrosse and set his sights on this since the time he was a little kid,” said MKA 16th-year head coach Paul Edwards. “He plays lacrosse all year round, go to camps and is an ‘MKA Lifer,’ so it’s great to see him accomplish the goals he set out for as a young player learning the game.”
MKA entered Thursday’s (April 19) game vs. Nutley with a 4-3 record. The Essex County Tournament seeding meeting is slated for Wednesday night, April 26.
Dancy, a 4-year performer on attack, is following both in his father Peter’s footsteps as a player at MKA and former Cougar Ryan Fennelly, who is finishing up his own 4-year career at Rhodes, a high level Division III program which is enjoying an 11-2 season to date in the Southern Athletic Association with Fennelly as its leading scorer with 25 goals in 13 games.
“My dad (1982 graduate) played for coach Doug Alsofrom at MKA and he was a crease attackman who taught me a lot about the game, like how important ground balls are and how a ‘point is a point’ whether it’s a goal or an assist, and he gave me a good perspective on the game of lacrosse,” said the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Dancy. “I also grew up idolizing Ryan Fennelly, who is a great role model and similar to me in that he is a big attackman (6-foot-4); and I watched him play from a young age and tried to emulate him.
“When I visited Rhodes he toured me around campus and I appreciated his perspective since he has experienced a lot of what I have coming out of MKA and that was a big part of my decision to choose Rhodes, plus the fact I am interested in architecture and real estate development and seeing the beautiful campus there just drew it all to me.”
Dancy has developed into an all-around attackman who is indeed both a reliable scorer and a terrific set-up man with his superb passing skills.
After scoring 30 goals and handing out 11 assists as a sophomore, he had 20 goals and 20 assists last spring when he earned second-team All-Super Essex Conference-American Division and was a first team selection on both the All-Waterman Division team and prep B all-state.
So far this spring, entering the April 19 game vs. Nutley, Dancy had 10 goals and a team-leading 9 assists in seven games.
“Ryan is more balanced than ever offensively,” said Edwards. “He has really adjusted to the talent around him as the scoring is much more balanced this season.
“He’s a very unselfish player who can both score a timely goal or pick up a great assist for us at the same time.”
Dancy will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Joe (Gettysburg) and Rob Strain, Chris Sibilia (Skidmore), Max Hall (Gettysburg) and Erik Zeug (Oberlin), all from the Class of 2016 at MKA who are still playing collegiate lacrosse.
“It’s been great to see the college lacrosse success of all the MKA players before us, including for me the great goalies who have come through our school,” said Dancy. “We’re so fortunate to have been part of such a strong high school lacrosse program with great coaches.”
Edwards along with associated head coach Ernie Mosca (14th season) and other assistants Sabino Rodano (12th season) and Mike Strader (seventh season), who are both also MKA grads and former players, makes for one of the more cohesive and knowledgeable coaching staffs in New Jersey high school lacrosse.
“The coaching staff at MKA is the best ever,” said Dancy. “They always can read players who are having a bad day or are edgy or agitated and keep us all going in a positive way, which is the best part of it all.
“They emphasize to never take a loss too seriously, but to always work hard to play better the next day and they just lift us up whenever we might be down, and they make practice fun to come to every day.
“It’s been a great experience at MKA. The four years have gone by all too quickly and I wish I could go back to freshman year if only because of all the things I know now, but we’re also as well prepared as we can be and I am definitely looking forward to the new challenges in college lacrosse!”
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