The Chaminade Flyers (NY) defeated the St. Anthonys Friars (NY) by a final score of 7-5 at St Anthonys High Schools Cy Donnelly Field Thursday evening in a big CHSAA matchup.
The win moves Chaminade to 13-1. St. Anthonys falls to 11-3. It was the second meeting of the season between the two teams, with the Flyers taking both regular season matchups.
As we noted in our game preview, both defenses have been stellar this season, and more than lived up to their billing in this one. Long stretches of great 6-on-6 defense dominated, and goals were difficult to come by in settled situations.
Nick Koshansky (Notre Dame) opened the scoring for St. Anthonys in the first minute of the game with a nice alley dodge to give the Friars a 1-0 lead. That would be the only goal for about seven minutes to start the contest, as the teams traded long possessions that generated only a few scoring chances each.
Chaminade would then net two quick goals, the first off the stick of junior James Roberts. On the ensuing faceoff, Kris Clarke (Hofstra) who was dominant for the Flyers winning 13 of 15 draws won the ball cleanly and started a fast break that was finished by senior midfielder Thomas Zenker (Duke), the first of his three goals on the day. The Flyers would carry the 2-1 lead to the end of the frame.
The second quarter would open with another Clarke faceoff win and another long, methodical possession for Chaminade. Aided by a couple failed clears by St. Anthonys of which there were multiple throughout the day Chaminade finally broke through on Zenkers second tally of the game to push their lead to 3-1. St. Anthonys would get it back a minute later, though, on a fine finish by senior Dylan Molloy (Brown), who capped a fast break started by junior midfielder Conner Byrne. Byrne picked up a tough ground ball in his own end, absorbed some physical hits and weaved through traffic to get the ball up-and-out.
The teams would then go through another long stretch with no goals, this one lasting about seven minutes, before Zenker completed his hat trick with just over one minute remaining in the quarter to provide Chaminade a two-goal halftime cushion at 4-2.
The second half started similarly to the previous quarter. Chaminade won the opening draw and possessed for about two minutes before senior attackman Ryan Lukacovic (Duke) drove from X and netted the fifth of the game for the Flyers. St. Anthonys would again close the gap quickly, however, as the Friars won the ensuing faceoff and got a goal off the stick of senior attackman Dave Rivoir (Tufts).
Following the goal, the teams again played a long scoreless stretch dominated by outstanding defensive play. St. Anthonys junior goaltender Jack Concannon (Hofstra) who split the game with senior Anthony De Los Reyes (RPI) was magnificent, making some point-blank saves to keep the Flyers off the board.
St. Anthonys would net one more before quarters end, as junior midfielder Greg Galligan (Georgetown) got a goal on a nice give-and-go with Molloy to cut the Chaminade lead to 5-4 entering the fourth.
St. Anthonys would enter the final frame with momentum, which was furthered by another long defensive stand to begin the stanza that included more theatrics from Concannon, who made some stellar saves from point-blank range to ignite the crowd.
On the ensuing St. Anthonys possession, however, an excellent takeaway by Flyers senior defenseman Brian Dunne (Duke) sparked a fast break that ended with a Lukacovic finish to push the lead back to two at 6-4.
The teams would trade possessions as another long stretch of good defense followed, including a big St. Anthonys stand on a 2-minute penalty with about three minutes remaining. Chaminade then took a penalty, and the Friars would capitalize, getting a goal from senior Attackman Matt Koerner (High Point) with about 30 seconds left setting up an all-important faceoff.
As was the case all day, Clarke came up huge for the Flyers, winning the draw ahead to himself cleanly, allowing for a Chaminade timeout. With St. Anthonys doubling the ball off the stoppage, Lukacovic outran his pursuers and used a nifty move to split another oncoming defender before finishing on a vacated cage to make it a 7-5 final.
Chaminade continues its recent string of regular season success against St. Anthonys with its sixth consecutive victory dating back to 2010. The teams will likely meet again in the CHSAA final, where St. Anthonys has been able to shake the regular season losses to win four consecutive titles.
Be sure to check back for much more from this one, including a video recap.
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