For Chaminade, Pat Kavanagh and Frank Marinello’s ‘D’ get it done

For Chaminade, it seems like there’s always a Kavanagh and there’s always a stellar defense.

So it was no surprise that in the Flyers’ season-opening 8-5 non-league victory over host Massapequa on Wednesday, Pat Kavanagh scored two goals and an assist to lead the offense and Frank Marinello led a cohesive defense that limited the high-powered Chiefs to two goals in the first three quarters.

“We have a really balanced offense and if we move the ball, we can beat anyone,” said Kavanagh, a senior attack, whose older brother Matt starred at Chaminade before graduating in 2011 and then excelled on attack at Notre Dame. A younger brother, Chris, is a promising freshman in the Chaminade program and another brother, Brendan, was a standout at Kellenberg who is currently a top player for Hofstra.

Jake Sexton also netted two goals for the Flyers, who had six players score in building a 6-1 halftime lead. Will Kusnierek, Sean Kuttin, Chris Nicholas and Sexton produced a 4-0 edge before Eamon Hall scored the first of his two goals for Massapequa with 8:10 left in the second quarter. Chaminade did not let the Chiefs back in the game, however.

A minute later, Kavanagh scored with a neat one-on-one spin dodge from behind the cage and Thomas Rogers finished on a feed from Kavanagh, who forced a turnover with a strong ride. With Chaminade’s defense, backed by elite goalie Andrew Bonafede (who only had to make five saves), that margin was sufficient to offset a three-goal fourth quarter by Massapequa. The Chiefs’ deficit would have been greater if not for goalie Mike Venezia, who made 14 saves.

“We had a couple of really good passes in the first half,” Kavanagh said. “In the second half, we didn’t have the ball that much.”

That’s because Massapequa faceoff specialist Angelo Petrakis got hot in the fourth quarter and the Chiefs dominated time of possession. When Colin Gleason scored his second to make it 8-5, there was only 1:40 left and the Flyers’ defense stiffened once more.

SEE PHOTOSChaminade vs. Massapequa boys lacrosse

“It’s a brick wall,” Kavanagh said, pointing at Marinello.

“We take care of business back there. We’re all brothers,” Marinello said of a back line that also includes Anthony Trangedi and Dominic Speranza. “They had like 15 minutes of possession in the second half. It was a little tiring, but we all did our jobs.”