Brick boys catching on rather quickly

BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

Steve Glowacki came out blazing when Brick Township's boys lacrosse team launched its inaugural season three weeks ago with eight goals in the first two games.

He scored five goals and had two assists in a 10-9 victory over Red Bank Regional, which also was playing in its first season, and then added all three goals scored by Brick Township in its second game, a 13-3 loss to Marlboro.

"Our offense wasn't producing; our defense wasn't producing," said Glowacki. "Not much of anything was happening at all."

It didn't take long for that to change as the Green Dragons bounced back with a 5-2 victory over Wall before a large home crowd, raising their record to 2-1.

"Our defense played 60 times better," said Glowacki. "We shut the other team down."

Unlike the first two games, Glowacki had a quiet day with only one goal, but neither he nor his coach, Steve Maurelli, complained.

"Steve scored our first five goals this season but this time, we did a good job of spreading it around," said Maurelli. "That's what we want to do so it doesn't all go to him."

That certainly would make it tougher for opposing defenses that no longer can focus on one player. It makes it easier for Glowacki to be more effective.

"We came out really strong in our first game, and were really excited and working as a team; and now we're working as a team [again]," said Glowacki.

Freshman Ken Bogart led the way against Wall with two goals and four other players scored, including James Murphy, Glowacki and Ken Brancaccio, whom Glowacki said set him up well in the first victory over Red Bank.

"We were in the penalty box against Wall a lot because it was a physical game, and the defense came through and held together," said Maurelli, who singled out the efforts of Scott Davis and Ray Mannion on defense and the steady goalkeeping of Noah Morris.

Adding to that sweet victory was the junior varsity team also beating Wall, 4-3, in overtime behind Chad Faulkner's goalkeeping.

"The jayvee surprisingly is doing very well," said Glowacki, who has joined others with club experience in helping Maurelli work with younger and inexperienced players in learning the fundamentals.

What helps, said Glowacki, is that some of the players on the team have some prior playing experience. Glowacki, whose brother, Matt, was a county champion in the shot put and who competed for the track and field team at Syracuse University, played lacrosse for a while in a club program in Toms River.

"I was playing it a lot there, and then the schools started it, and the [club] program was out," said Glowacki. "So in my sophomore year I was playing pickup games, and then I joined the [new] Brick Club and played eight or nine games last spring."

And Chris Cordiani is expected to join the team in time for Thursday's game at home against Brick Memorial, also a first-year program looking to get its first victory, in a 3:45 p.m. start. Brick Memorial finally scored in its most recent game, a 13-3 loss to Red Bank that dropped the Mustangs to 0-3.

Certainly, the novelty of the sport in which a girls team was started in both schools in the township four years ago, has drawn the curiosity and interest of the fans.

"The hardest part is learning the basics - passing and catching," said Glowacki. "It's an exciting and fun sport - a mix of soccer, hockey and football. It's becoming a popular sport. Football is very popular here at Brick and this is becoming our spring football sport. We got a huge turnout for our last game and we expect to see a lot of fans coming to our games."

And a big crowd is expected on Thursday afternoon when the crosstown rivals take the Brick Township field.