Allentown lacrosse loses two games to start season
BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer
The Allentown boys lacrosse team entered the week with an 0-2 record. That's the bad news.

Above: Allentown's Taylor Harvey looks to get past Casey Pelican as the team squared off against J.P. Stevens on April 5. Below: Allentown's Abby Chek (r) gets past Christina Pontoreiro as the teams play at Shamrock Field in Edison.

The good news is that first-year head coach Michael Kays is hardly disappointed with the start. In fact, he's relatively pleased with it.

"We're 0-2, but I'm about as optimistic as I can be while being 0-2," he said. "I think our first two games will be among our toughest tests of the season, so that's a good sign."

TheRedbirds,who return six seniors and a slew of starters from last year's 9-7 team, lost to West Windsor-Plainsboro North in triple overtime, 7-6, before falling to West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 11-7.

Even in defeat, Allentown showed just how far the program has progressed in just its third year of varsity play.

"It's the program's fifth year overall," said Kays,who played club lacrosse atRiderUniversity before launching his coaching career at Notre Dame High School. "I'm definitely pleasedwith the progress. I think the feeder program in town has contributed greatly to that success. I was here for the second year of the program, and a lot of the upperclassmen and newer guys had never played lacrosse before.

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"This year we had 55 kids come out for the team, and they all had some playing experience coming in."

The result is a Redbird team that should make another run at the postseason after earning a state berth last year.

Offensively, Allentown is led by senior attackers Mark Payson and Brian Goodwine, both three-year starters, who are joined by junior James Bulk, who Kays said has looked "really impressive through the first couple of games."

Senior Zach Byrnes will also see time at attack for Allentown.

The midfield is led by returning starters Eric Todd, a senior, juniors Brendan Skeehan and Vince Rooney, as well as sophomore Matt Mueller.

Juniors Vincent Rini, Brian Pope, Tim Collins, Luke Lamb and Richard Morris round out the Redbird midfielders.

The defense is where Allentown is the least experienced, although senior John Kiczalis is back to lead the way. He is joined in the backfield by senior RyanWalker, juniors IsaacNissim, LouisKelleher,RobBabin and Lee Rappleyea, as well as sophomores GarrettMarshall and TomWalker.

Junior Bobby Sopher is back in goal for Allentown.

"Bobby is doing a nice job for us so far, and did a nice job for us back there last year," Kays said.

When the coach looks at his team, he understands where its strengths and weaknesses lie, even after only two games.

"I think our offense will be our strongest point," he said. "Defensively, we lost two of our key guys, so we're trying to fill in those spaces at this point. I think we've gained a lot of ground in the last game and a half."

Like most teams, Allentown will need to develop a chemistry and cohesiveness before it can play to its potential. While many of the players have played together for quite some time now, their ability to gel at the varsity level will determine just how successful this team can be.

"When our offense plays as a team, we are at our best," Kays said. "We have a tendency sometimes to play one-on-one, and we're just not very productive that way. If we play together, eventually we're going to be all right."

As far as expectations go for this team, Kays is not about to set any specific goals, in terms of wins. That's not to say, however, that he does not expect his team to play winning lacrosse.

"I'd like to be competitive in every game," he said. "I'd also like to be more successful in the postseason, and make a run at the Circio Division title."

In order to do that,Allentown will need to continue the progress it has made over the past three years. Kays believes his players are ready to do that this spring.

"The kids have practiced hard all year and are committed to lacrosse day in and day out," he said.

Thisweek, the Redbirdswill look to even their record with games against Ocean Township today and New Egypt tomorrow.

Lady Redbirds impressive in win over J.P. Stevens

The Allentown girls lacrosse team entered the season with some high expectations and has looked every bit as good as advertised early on.

On Saturday, the Lady Redbirds traveled to Edison to take on a good J.P. Stevens team, and took care of business to the tune of an 11-4 victory.

Becca Wishbow scored three goals and Annie Matrone turned back nine shots for Allentown as they jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first half and played solid defensively throughout the contest to protect the lead.

Also scoring forAllentown on Saturday were Abby Chek (2), Madline Collins (2), Jackie Turner (2), Lauren Mottershead and Samantha Scibilia, while Collins, Taylor Harvey, Scibilia and Jackie Turner contributed assists.