Green Dragons look to finish first season strong

BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

Brick Township's first-year boys lacrosse team will look to snap out of a five-game losing streak when it closes its season this week against two teams it had beaten earlier in the season.

The Green Dragons (4-10) played Red Bank earlier in the week and take on winless Brick Memorial today at Brick Memorial's field at 7 p.m. That game will be played as the second game of a doubleheader, with the two girls lacrosse teams in town playing in the opener.

Like Brick Township, Brick Memorial and Red Bank are first-year boys programs.

"It's going to be tough for us because Red Bank remembers when we beat them [10-9] in our opening game on a goal with 30 seconds left, and Brick Memorial is a cross-town rivalry and they'll be up emotionally for the game," said coach Steve Maurelli. "Memorial showed that when we beat them, 7-3 and they played hard against us.

"We can't take them lightly, especially on defense because they can capitalize on our mistakes," said Maurelli. "And we have to work on our defense and sliding into our transition game."

Defensive lapses were evident in the last game when Marlboro scored an 11-6 victory, although Maurelli said that senior defender Mike Marco played his best game of the season, and said that Scott Davis "is really picking it up" on the defensive end. Goalie Noah Morris also made a number of sharp saves in that game as he has throughout this tough stretch in which Brick Township played the hardest part of its schedule against teams that are more established.

"Noah has stepped up, especially against teams already in existence and with feeder programs," said Maurelli, whose team also has gotten players with experience from the Brick Lacrosse Club. "He's made some unbelievable saves, especially considering it's his first year playing in goal."

Steve Glowacki and Chris Cordiano each scored two goals against Marlboro, raising their season totals to team leading 21 and nine goals, respectively.

Maurelli also praised the efforts of his young midfielders, including freshman Ken Bogart and sophomores James Murphy and Ken Brancaccio.

"I think a lot of the younger guys are stepping it up with more responsibility and definitely improving throughout the year," said Maurelli.

Basketball

Brick Township's boys basketball team, which loses only one starter from last season's team that made the NJSIAA and Shore Conference Tournaments, will participate with some other schools in a different type of basketball venture on June 24 when it takes to the streets of Newark to participate in a series of organized games against teams from that city.

"These are kids in halfway houses who are trying to turn their lives around and we're looking forward to this, and so are the kids, as a way to help get ready for the state playoffs," said coach Joe Lewis, who is meeting with organizers of the games on Wednesday. "We already had an experience of playing a team [from the inner-city] like that when we played Trenton [in the NJSIAA Central Jersey quarterfinals] so we want to do this. We think this year we have a chance to make a lot of noise in the playoffs."

Golf

Brick Memorial's Greg Dickensen was selected for next Friday's Jersey Shore Challenge Cup at Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson that pits Ocean County's top eight players against the best eight from Monmouth County. Monmouth won it the last five years after Ocean won the inaugural year.