Boys lacrosse: Pleasantville responds to first setback of the season, gets back to winning
BRIARCLIFF – There's little doubt Pleasantville has the ability to extend the season well into June.
And the Panthers know it.
The mental flexing is what sometimes gets this team into tight spots. A casual approach proved costly earlier in the week, so Pleasantville left nothing to chance Saturday and posted a meaningful 15-5 victory over Briarcliff.
Pelham caught the Panthers resting on their laurels Tuesday and promptly removed them from the ranks of the unbeaten.
“It woke us up,” Pleasantville defender Aidan Picart said. “I think for a little while we were playing below our potential. We could win a lot more games, but if we play tired or lazy, we lose like we did before. I think we came into Tuesday’s game like it didn’t matter and believed Pelham wouldn’t play good lacrosse. We went down a couple of goals and we just gave up. So, this is a great win, a rivalry win. We haven’t beat them in a little bit, so it definitely helps.”
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It’s the first win over the rival Bears since 2018.
Shane Dean and Harrison Winger had Briarcliff up 2-0 seven minutes in, but the Panthers adjusted to a pesky zone, picked up the pace and got everyone involved. Hank McCourtney and Nick Reich knotted the score before the first quarter ended.
The lead was up to 9-3 when Daniel Picart buried a shot with 1:30 to go in the first half.
“I think we are ready, but there is definitely more work to do,” Emmet McDermott said. “We’ve got some time here. I believe our practices correlate with how we play in games so we’ve got to be great in practice from here on out, but I think we should be good.”
What it means
Pleasantville is going to be the No. 1 seed in Class D when the Section 1 tournament brackets come out next week. A win over Westlake on Tuesday clinches sole possession of a league title. Staying locked mentally in will be the key to postseason success.
The Panthers have more firepower, but assuming teams like Bronxville, Briarcliff, Haldane and Rye Neck pose no challenge might be a regrettable error.
“I think we do still have a chance,” Bears defender Luca Meola said of a potential rematch in sectionals. “We seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. I don't know why that is, but we’ve had some really strong games. Pleasantville beat Shoreham-Wading River in OT and we lost to them by one goal. We beat Mamaroneck, which is a top-five team in the section and Mahopac, which has some good wins recently. When we play the right way, we’re in games, but as soon as we make silly mistakes, we start to fall apart and teams get the upper hand.”
Player of the game
McDermott kept the ball moving and wound up with four goals and two assists.
By the numbers
Pleasantville (14-1): McCourtney had two goals and two assists. … Erik Coleman netted three goals. … Reich and Picart scored two apiece. … Michael Hundzyski added one goal and three assists. … Aidan Cotter finished with one goal. … Andrew Nessel made nine saves.
Briarcliff (5-10): Harrison Winger scored twice. … Bobby Colangelo, Alex Kirshenbaum and Dean finished with a goal apiece. … Jameson Wong made 10 saves.
They said it
“It felt good and it looked good,” Aidan Picart said of the final margin. “We got under their skin a little bit and did what we had to do. As a team, our chemistry blossomed. I think in the playoffs we could do really well and we could go really far.”
“Everybody has a role,” McDermott said. “Everybody knows they have a job to do and if we execute, it works out well.”
Mike Dougherty covers lacrosse for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com. Follow along on Twitter @lohudlacrosse.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Pleasantville beat Briarcliff 15-5 in boys lacrosse
