The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VVS battles Proctor, elements to net 2nd win
Ciotti’s 5-goal day paces Red Devils offense in victory
Five fourth-quarter goals helped the Red Devils pull away for a road victory and improve to 2-1.
Vernon-Verona-Sherrill played much of Thursday’s boys lacrosse game at Proctor with the lead after scoring the game’s first three goals but saw its advantage trimmed to one entering the fourth quarter with momentum on the hosts’ side.
The final period, however, belonged to the visitors.
The Red Devils outscored the Raiders 5-0 over the final 12 minutes, posting a 13-7 victory to improve to 2-1 on the season.
“We play strong defense,” said VVS coach Kris Sullivan. “We’ve got some good athletes on defense and they play well together and they’re really starting to gel. Offensively, it’s taken us some time because we haven’t been outside much. We’ve only been on the field five times and three of those are games so it’s going to take some time to start coming together at the start of the season.”
Matt Ciotti led the Red Devils attack on Thursday with five goals while Richard Geiss added three goals in the victory. Alex Oliver tallied a goal and four assists and Garrett Harrington finished with 13 saves.
“We just passed the ball, worked with each other well, shot on goal a lot,” said Ciotti.
Noah Lamie and Alex Colon scored three goals apiece in defeat for Proctor.
Playing into a stiff wind and driving rain didn’t phase VVS in the opening quarter. The Red Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Raiders scored twice in the final minute of the first to
close within a goal. The visitors, however, scored once more to take a 4-2 lead into the second.
Proctor closed within a goal early in the second quarter on Lamie’s second goal of the game but Ciotti and Oliver countered with a pair of goals in a span of 43 seconds to push the lead to 6-3 with 8:01 to play in the first half. The Raiders struck once more before intermission but Matt Piazza took the ensuing face off straight for the goal, scoring just seven seconds later to give the Red Devils a 7-4 lead they would take into the break.
The hosts scored the first two goals of the third quarter before Alex Baird netted one for the visitors. Colon countered for Proctor, closing the VVS lead to 8-7 going into the fourth quarter.
Colon made a bid to tie the game less than a minute into the final period but his shot was stopped by Harrington. The Red Devils then began to pull away, with Ciotti scoring the game’s next three goals to push the lead to 11-7 with 4:33 to play.
“I wanted to take things into my own hands, get our team boosted,” said Ciotti. “We were down because they were catching up but we had to boost our self confidence.”
Ryan Netzband netted another goal for VVS be- fore Ciotti scored his fifth to cap the scoring with 47.4 seconds to play.
“Moving the ball well on offense, I think that helped,” said Sullivan. “Once again we had some penalties. Penalties have been killing us all year. Hopefully by the end of the season we’ll clean that up and not have as many and I think if we can do that, that would make a huge difference.” have ended his athletic career and instead focused on academics. Ultimately, he decided to go with the Bearcats.
“When I went on the visit everything seemed to be exactly what I was looking for in a college and what I needed,” he said. “They have the potential to really develop runners and make good runners great so it seemed like a good idea for me to go there.”
That potential could help VanValkenburgh achieve a big goal of his for his collegiate career, the four-minute mile. Other than that, he hasn’t thought too far ahead as he focuses on his last run with the Raiders, who he has helped post back-to-back undefeated seasons coming into this year.
The senior plans to pursue a degree in engineering at Binghamton with the hopes of starting a career in that field following his graduation. VanValkenburgh also has long-term athletic goals, setting his sights on marathons and triathlons with the hope of someday reaching the IronmanWorld Championships in Kona, Hawaii.