Brosco, Higgins lead SWR to state C final
Shoreham-Wading River's Trevor Brosco drives to the goal against Bronxville in the New York State Class C boys lacrosse semi-final game. (June 6, 2012) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
What was very nearly a historic performance became merely a dominant blowout for Shoreham-Wading River.
Trevor Brosco had three goals and two assists, James Higgins had three goals and one assist and Tyler Lutjen made five saves as SWR cruised past Bronxville, 11-2, in the state Class C boys lacrosse semifinals Wednesday afternoon at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium. It was the fewest goals allowed by SWR since a 15-2 win over Kings Park on May 3, 2011, a span of 29 games, and nearly the first shutout in program history.
SWR (17-3) will aim for its third state title when it takes on Penn Yan Academy in the final at 11 a.m. Saturday at Middletown.
"We wanted to go for the shutout," said Lutjen, who held Bronxville scoreless for more than 45 minutes. "The defense really wanted it but when you have the chance to get in some of the backups, the future players, into the game you want to get them some reps in one of the biggest games and give them some confidence."
The Wildcats dominated in the first half, outshooting the Broncos 16-6 and 10-2 in shots on goal, but led just 3-0 at halftime. Eric Pass (12 saves) was outstanding for Bronxville (20-2) and kept his team in the game. Pass made a particularly acrobatic stop on Dylan Gorman (two goals) with 7:10 to go in the second quarter, tipping the ball with the top of his stick as he went against his momentum.
"We felt we could have been up 8-0 at half," SWR coach Tom Rotanz said. "We had a lot of opportunities. Their goalie was really on and I don't think we did our shot selection to the best of our ability. We banged two quick ones in the third quarter and you could just see a sigh of relief and then we just started playing our game."
Brosco scored his second goal and Tim Rotanz (one goal, two assists) set up Higgins for his first of the game in the first 1:40 of the third quarter as the Wildcats blew it open. The Wildcats added two more in the third and led by as much as 10-0 with 3:40 to go before Brewster Warble scored two goals in the final 2:47 for the Broncos.
