WEST ORANGE — The Seton Hall Prep lacrosse team hosted Delbarton, the No. 4-ranked team in the country, at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange on Saturday, April 18. In a very exciting match, the SHP Pirates won 9-7 to improve to 3-5 on the season.
The Pirates jumped out to a 4-0 lead. In the first quarter, senior Bryce Pfeffer opened the scoring with an unassisted goal just :47 into the match. Senior Owen Dunleavy extended the lead to 2-0 on a goal from an assist by senior Drew Merklinger. Senior Alex Ante made it 3-0 on a goal, assisted by senior Jack Merklinger with 5:02 left.
In the second quarter, Drew Merklinger made it 4-0 with 10:20 left. Just 1:18 later, Delbarton made it 4-1, before senior Christian Cooper made it 5-1 on an assist by senior Quinlan Oakes with 4:28 left before halftime. In the third quarter, Delbarton scored two straight goals to cut it 5-3, before junior Derek Sabel connected on an assist by Drew Merklinger with 3:34 left to make it 6-3 after the third quarter. Delbarton cut it 6-4 with 10:04 left in the fourth quarter, before the Pirates scored two consecutive goals to make it 8-4 with 4:42 left, as Oakes scored and he then assisted on Christian’s goal. Delbarton cut it 8-5, before Dunleavy made it 9-5 on an unassisted goal with 2:05 left. Delbaton scored the final two goals to produce the final score.
After the game, senior goalie Brennan Lyons (10 saves) said, “No matter what the records of the teams are, you throw them out the window because this is an intense rivalry game.” Junior defenseman Jagger Zemachson said, “Coming into this game, we have not had a great start, but we kept it within ourselves, and did not listen to the outside noise. We knew we could get it done when everybody doubted us. We came in knowing we had a chance, and we gave it all we had to win this game and we did.”
SHP second-year head coach John Svec said, “It wasn’t about scheme or tactics. It was about playing for the guy next to you. They gave everything for their teammates. I thought Brennan Lyons played outstanding in goal and bailed us out at times. The shots they scored on were ones that they really had to earn. Delbarton has such talented players and we made them have to work to score.”
Both Lyons and Zemachson feel that this victory can turn around the season.
In their other game of the week, the Pirates traveled to Livingston and defeated the Lancers 16-5 on Tuesday, April 14. The Pirates were led by Dunleavy, who scored four goals, while junior Casey Minerley scored two goals and sophomore Grady Paltos scored two goals with one assist. The other goal-scorers were junior Gavin Martin, Oakes, senior AJ Mack, senior Michael Hug, junior Drew Rothman, Ante, junior Josh Grannum and Christian. Grannum was also 6-of-8 at the faceoff X, while senior Lucas Angel was 6-of-7 and senior Michael Scurti was 8-of-8.
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