After failing to win in the Sectional Finals for the past three years, the boys lacrosse team hopes to break the curse this year and win the Sectional Title for the first time in program history. This year looks like it will be the year to win it all. As of April 16th, the Chiefs are 6-0 with their most recent win coming against the West Essex Knights. They won with a score of 9-6 and the Chiefs took home the “Pancake Cup” (the award given between the two for the rivalry they both have) for the second year in a row. Senior Captain Jack Goldbach and Junior Sean Murtagh are the teams leading goal scorers with Goldbach netting 10 and Murtagh scoring 8. Goldbach leads the team in points as well with 19 but Senior Captain Matthew Costigan is tied for second with 5 goals and 6 assists. Murtagh has 11 points as well. Senior Captain Jake Gruzas leads the team with ground balls, scooping up 29.
Defensively, Seniors Laurent Keenan, Greyson McSharry, and Junior Will Swift are anchoring the defense only allowing a total of 25 goals in 6 games, averaging almost 4 goals a game. Senior Captain Landon Pini is a monster in goal with 70 saves in 6 games, averaging almost 12 saves per game. (NJ.Com). The Chiefs’ excellent play is from the hard work of the players and the tactics used from Coaches John Timan, Nick Espositio, and Kyle Huff. The team hopes to continue its undefeated season and continue to get better as a team.
Coach Timan has high expectations for the squad as they start to approach the middle of their season, “We are playing very well. Each and every day we keep on playing better. We haven’t been 6-0 since 2019 and that was a good team. I am very happy with the team this year. To get better throughout the year, I think we just have to clean up the little mistakes. We’ve only been playing for about 4 weeks so we are still early in the year and the mistakes will happen. If we are able to improve as a whole and get better on our mental mistakes, I think we will have a great future with this team.” Timan hopes to see his team getting better and seeing improvements from each player individually.
Jake Gruzas is leading the team to success and he hopes this success will continue for the rest of his final year, “I think we have been playing very strong. The 6-0 start shows that we are a force to be reckoned with. I believe that it is due to our team bonding. We’re a tight knit group of guys and it really helps us out on the field since we can all trust each other and know what everyone wants to do. The friendship and bond we have just contributes to our overall success. Another thing that would help our season is if I am able to continue to be a leader to the younger players. We have a lot of seniors so I think the leadership from every one of those guys could go a long way.” Gruzas will continue to be a leader throughout the course of the year and hopes he and his teammates will strive through adversity.
Matt Costigan is also another player helping lead this team through the start of their season, “I am very well with how the team is performing to start the season. To start undefeated through the first six games means we are doing something right. I hope we can stay undefeated for as long as possible. If we keep getting better in practice and improve on the little things, we can make it very far in the Essex County Tournament and State Tournament.” Costigan will aim to work on the little things and get far in both tournaments that Caldwell will compete in.
We wish the boys lacrosse season and good luck and hopefully they can bring home some hardware for all Caldwell supporters.
