A quick start against Byram Hills paid dividends for Harrison on May 3, as the Huskies rode an early lead to a hard-fought 8-7 win over the Bobcats. As the season draws to a close, Harrison coach Matt Cippolla is hoping that tight games such as last Thursday’s will help prepare his team for the inevitable road ahead.
Harrison opened up the game with four-straight first-quarter goals, but would see Byram Hills continuously chip away, eventually knotting the score at six with just under 11 minutes left to play.
But a late-game surge by section-leading scorer Matt McLaughlin, who scored two goals in under 30 seconds to break the tie, was enough to put the Huskies on top for good as they hung on to win the one-goal game.
“[Byram] really clamped down defensively,” Cippolla said. “We didn’t play our best after that first quarter, but we were able to fight through it and come away with the win, which is the important thing.”
McLaughlin found the net three times on the day, pushing his season totals to 55 goals and 23 assists, but Cippolla was especially pleased with the way the rest of the attack stepped up, especially early in the game when the senior standout was drawing extra attention from the Bobcat defense.
Scores from Connor Novak, Thomas Gresham and Austin Mueller gave the Huskies the early lead, and Tyler Menniti also had a goal to go along with two assists on the day.
Goalie Henry Alvarado had eight saves to preserve the win.
“[McLaughlin’s] the focal point, offensively, but how we look at it is that we have five or six guys step up as well,” Cippolla said. “Guys like Gresham, Menniti, Novak, they’ve been more assertive in their games, so that means we’re not just relying on one guy.”
With the win, the Huskies improved to 9-4 on the season, and will have two tough league tests remaining before the playoffs.
On May 11, after press time, the Huskies will host Pelham, before getting ready for a May 13 showdown with Rye that could well see a league title hanging in the balance.
“Those two games could be the biggest games of the year for us,” the head coach said. “And I just want to see our guys get as many wins as possible under their belt, because we know the playoffs are going to be ridiculously competitive from the very first game.”
