The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Red Devils vie for TVL title
VERONA, N.Y. »
The last time Vernon-Verona- Sherrill and Clinton got together, the Red Devils squandered a four-point lead in a loss to the Warriors.
Tuesday, the two Tri-Valley Pioneer foes met again with a share of the division title on the line.
Much like the first matchup, the Red Devils raced out to a 6-2 advantage midway through the second quarter, only to see Clinton go on an 8-1 scoring run to establish a 10-7 lead with eight minutes left in the third.
This time, VVS had the answer and then some, outscoring Clinton 9-3 the rest of the way to deny the Warriors the outright title and clinch a share of the Pioneer Division with a 16-13 victory.
“I was definitely nervous. It’s nice to be on the other end,” VVS coach Kris Sullivan said of the rematch. “This was the best, most complete game we have played so far.”
“Our Achilles’ heel all year has been once bad things happen, they start to snowball. When we settle down and play lacrosse, we’re a good team.”
Matt Ciotti buried five goals to lead the VVS attack. Alex Oliver added three tallies and an assist. Cade Decker also notched three scores, adding an assist in
the process. Travis Decker tagged on two more scores while serving up three assists, and Justin Smith got in on the multi-score affair with two goals and an assist of his own.
Though both teams gave the brave fans gathered under the cold drizzle plenty of reason to cheer in the high-scoring affair, the first quarter was quiet in comparison.
Oliver gave VVS the first lead of the night with a goal at the 10:15 mark. Clinton waited until the final ten seconds of the first quarter to level the contest. Clinton goalie JoshuaTrask launched a ball down field and Nick Mondore scooped and scored with 6.4 on the clock.
VVS took advantage of the second quarter face-off, converting an illegal procedure penalty into a Cade Decker goal. Some 40 seconds later, Oliver corralled a loose ball near midfield, busting down the middle of the Warrior defense for the score and 3-1 VVS lead at the 10:50 mark.
Less than a minute later, Ciotti skied to intercept a pass in Clinton’s defensive end, juking and then finding the back of the net for a 4-1 lead.
Clinton cut the VVS lead in half on a Tyler Karuzas score, but the Red Devils answered with backto-back goals from Ciotti. Mike Guertin won the ensuing face-off, bolting down the heart of the Clinton defense before dumping an assist to Ciotti.
“He was huge for us,” Sullivan said of Guertin on the face-off. “He gave us possession. No matter what they threw at him, he seemed to adjust.”
A little more than 50 seconds later, Ciotti scored again, this time on a Travis Decker assist, for a 6-2 lead midway through the second.
Clinton made it close again in a three minute span. TJ Elsenbeck trickled home a shot, Corbin Melie followed with a tally of his own a minute later, and Victor Grahambrought Clinton within a goal at the 5:41 mark to cut the deficit to a goal and prompt a VVS timeout.
Out of the stoppage, the Deckers gave VVS a twogoal lead when Travis assisted Cade, but Graham found the back of the net one more time for Clinton before the intermission to pull the visitors within a goal, 7-6.
Clinton came out of the half firing. Zach Ellingson scored a minute in, Mondore added two more goals, and Elsenbeck capped the Warrior run with a goal at the 8:10 mark to prompt a VVS timeout.
“Don’t get down on yourselves,” Sullivan told his team.
VVS answered their coach’s urging with a pair of goals before the end of the third. Travis Decker unloaded a bouncing shot from 15 yards out to pull the Red Devils within two at the four-minute mark, and Oliver went behind his back for a score with less than a minute left. At the end of three, Clinton held a 10-9 edge over their hosts.
Cade Decker gave VVS its first lead of the second half after Clinton was hit with an illegal procedure penalty on the face-off. Ten seconds later, after Guertin helped secure yet another face-off, Ciotti nearly made it 11-10 in VVS’ favor, but Track came up with a tough save to keep the teams tied at 10-10.
Clinton retook the lead on Ellingson’s second goal of the half with 9:07 left in the game, but Smith ripped a shot home twenty seconds later for an 11-11 tie as the two sides continued their back-and-forth affair. Less than a minute after Smith’s score, Clinton went down two men on an unsportsmanlike call, and the Red Devils took full advantage.
Oliver fed Ciotti for a score to put VVS up 12-11. Twenty seconds later, Ciotti put away his fifth goal of the night for a 13-11 Red Devil lead with seven minutes left. Smith piled on with another goal a minute later to give VVS a 14-11 lead, and Travis Decker notched his last goal of the night a minute after that.
After a Clinton score cut the VVS lead to 15-12, Andrew Fox answered for the hosts to keep the visitors at arm’s length. Clinton scored one final time with 2:13 left in the fourth, but VVS was able to control possession in the final two minutes to close the regular season with a 16-13 win.
“They bent but didn’t break,” Sullivan said of what impressed him most about his team. “It was nice to see them buckle down and play four full quarters.”