Lawrence ends drought
LAWRENCE — Zach Weyand believes a lot of the Lawrence High boys soccer team’s early season struggles had to do with confidence.
Now the Cardinals appear to have found it.
The team that could not get a win in its first seven games despite having lost only once by more than a goal suddenly has turned a corner.
Tuesday’s 6-0 win against Ewing marked Lawrence’s third consecutive victory in Colonial Valley Conference action.
Not so surprisingly, it was the 3-6-1 Cardinals’ biggest output of the season. In fact, six goals were more than the team scored in its seven-game slump.
“I think the difference this year, especially today, was that I finally started to get my confidence,” said Weyand, a senior attacker who led the surge with a hat trick and two assists. “I was able to start getting assists and getting goals the past three or four games. That’s very good for me.”
What’s good for the captain is great for the team.
Weyand’s classmate, midfielder Anthony Scardelletti, also found his confidence in the goal mouth with a pair of goals and an assist. He scored the first goal of the game, then assisted on Weyand’s second tally to put the visitors in a 3-0 hole at halftime.
“They’re basically a team of seniors, and we’re basically a team of juniors,” Blue Devils coach Brandon Parry said. “I know they’ve been in a lot of tight games, and they are better than their record. I don’t think we’re as bad as the final score suggests, either.”
Ewing (3-7) had won two of its last three games entering the contest. Even with senior goalkeeper Kasey Dearden making 10 saves and freshman keeper Russell Stackhouse coming on in the last 10 minutes to make another, the younger visitors could not hold down their older and bigger opponents on Lawrence’s grass.
“To put up three (goals) in each half is great,” Weyand said. “I think the confidence is building for us. The fact that we’ve played the best teams in the CVC, regardless that we lost, we played great games against them, which gives us hope.”
If there had been any doubt, the Cardinals took it away 10 minutes after the break. Shortly after Nick Wood got the Blue Devils’ first shot of the second half, Lawrence countered with a surge. Anthony Scardelletti took a pass from Weyand and saw his shot on goal get deflected past Dearden for the home team’s fourth goal.
Coach Brian Rostron’s team pushed forward again two minutes later as Jacek Zarski converted a pass from David Kraszewski to up the ante to 5-0.
The home side kept the ball in Ewing’s end for most of the half until Weyand completed his hat trick with an unassisted crossing shot into the lower corner of the net with 1:32 left.
The Cardinals will need to keep up their confidence as they enter tough games at West Windsor-Plainsboro South (Thursday) and the Lawrenceville School (Friday). The Blue Devils will try to find their own when they return to their turf Thursday to host Nottingham.