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Canandaigua Captures "Back to Back" Sec 5 Championships
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Some things never change, and unfortunately for the second-seeded Irondequoit Eagles, losing to the Canandaigua Braves is one of those things. Playing in their second-straight sectional championship game against the top-seeded Braves, the Eagles lost 17-6 Friday in the Class B finals. Irondequoit lost to CA, 18-5, in the ‘A’ finals last spring. The victory was CA’s 17th-straight this year.
What also never changed in the sectional title game was the depth of the Braves and the lock-down style of their defense. All year the Braves had used 6-to-7 defenseman, 5-to-7 attackmen, and 8-to-9 middies in almost every game, not to mention rotating three goalies in and out just about every other quarter during the season, also. As they have also done all season long, the CA defense has been able to stifle whatever offensive scheme they have had to face.
Friday night at St. John Fisher College, every facet of the Braves lacrosse game was in high gear. Especially the offense, scoring four goals in each of the first three quarters to grab a 12-5 lead after the third quarter, going on to outscore the Eagles 5-1 in the last quarter.
The CA offense was started by senior X-man Marshall Johnson, winning 18-of-19 draws at the X, and ended by junior Deven Alves who scored five goals and dished out three assists in the game.
Also scoring for CA, now 19-2 on the season, was senior Brian Scheetz with three goals and four assists, senior Tanner Scharr and junior Tom LaCrosse with two goals and one assist each, Marshall Johnson with one goal and one assist, and one goal each from Will Johnson, Shane Dobies, Adam Knapton and Bryan Peck.
“The kids played very well. They really rose to the occasion,” said CA head coach Ed Mulheron. “I’m very proud of how we played today. Deven had a great game as did the rest of the kids. But I am especially pleased with how well Deven played.”
As far as Deven Alves was concerned, he knew who was
buttering his bread.
“I think all game long, it all started with the job
Marshall was doing with the draw,” he stated. “It gave us a chance to run our
offense. Brian, me and Tanner working well amongst ourselves behind the net was
also a big key. We were using our picks well and creating a lot of offense. I
was pumped up the whole game and whenever the ball came my way I took advantage
of it.”
But it wasn’t only the offense that Alves wanted to talk about.“Our defense played really great also,” he continued. “The Coholan brothers (Irondequoit’s Drew and Greg) are unbelievable scorers. To hold them back like we did was unbelievable. Everybody did a great job of chipping into shutting them down. It was a full team effort.”
#7 Deven Alves
Tournament MVP
CA starting goalie, junior Nick King, perhaps showing how well his defense was playing in front of him, made but five saves in the game with most of those being big key saves at crucial times.
“Nick played very well with some nice timely saves when we really needed them,” continued fourth-year coach Mulheron. “He was everything we asked for today in the nets.”
Mulheron could not continue the interview without talking about the team’s X-man and middie play.
“I thought Marshall did an outstanding job at the X,” continued Mulheron.
“But his wing men did a great job helping him. They picked up a lot of loose
balls that got us the draw also.”
In fact it was the whole Braves team that did an excellent job gaining control of loose balls, scooping up 34 to just 13 by the Eagles.
Despite his strong stats at the X, Johnson was all
about the play of his defense.
#26 Defenseman Kyle Stanney Named To Section 5 All Tournament Team...Says The Section 5 Championship Title Fits Just Fine
“I love this defense,” said Johnson, who will play at Fairfield next year. “In the first half, to hold their offense to just three goals and doing the same thing in the second half was strong. A key, we thought, was to hold the Coholan brothers to four goals or less each and we did just that.”
Finally he was persuaded to talk about his day at the
X.
“Going against Greg (Coholan) last year a few times, I noticed he changed his style this year,” he continued. “I figured that the first few draws in the beginning of the game were going to set the tone. So, once I won the first three draws, I figured it wasn’t going to be much of a problem from there on out.
But I also have to mention how strong a game Deven played. He was huge. He was in the right spot at the right time all game.”
While the Braves offense was doing its thing, the defense
was doing theirs also. Mulheron knew why.
“Our assistant coaches Robin Hulme
and Jeff Scheetz have done a wonderful job preparing our defense all season
long,” continued Mulheron. “They really dialed in our defense today. The defense
had a lot to do with this win today, too.”
The Braves will move onto the state tournament this Tuesday, facing Section 6 champ Hamburg back at St. John Fisher College in first round regional play. The Braves might have defeated Hamburg 10-6 earlier in the season at Hamburg, but according to Mulheron, that’s all the more reason to be worried about them.
“We know Hamburg is a very good team having played them once earlier in
the season. We are somewhat familiar with them because of that game but they
will also be more aware of our game, too. We will expect a high-quality game
from them come Tuesday.”
As Hamburg will also expect, and more than likely will
get, a high quality game from the Braves.
Sectional championship
accomplished. Now onto phase two of the Braves preseason goals for their
postseason.
Canandaigua All Tournamet Team Selections
Attack:
Tanner Sharr
Brian Sheetz
Deven
Alves
Midfield:
Marshall
Johnson
Defense:
Kyle Stanney
Sean
Regan
Goalie:
Nick King
Record
22 - 2