West Morris tops Mendham in North Group III

CHESTER – Junior midfielder Kyle Skurchak led the way as the second-seeded West Morris boys lacrosse team defeated No. 10 Mendham 10-7 in the North Group III quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Skurchak finished with four goals for the Wolfpack (11-10), who defeated Mendham 9-8 just one week ago on May 12.

“We’re always expecting a tough match against them, they’re our rivals and they always play hard, we just have to play hard as well and match their intensity,” Skurchak said. “We know who they’re best players are and what they tend to do, so it does help (having played them), but we have to play our best and we came out today with the win.”

The Minutemen (5-13), hot off a 12-2 victory over Morris Knolls in the first round on Saturday, jumped out to a 2-0 lead with 3:50 left in the first quarter on goals from junior midfielder Peter Roche and senior attack Chandler Avallone.

Sophomore midfielder Cole Draghi scored for the Wolfpack with 3:37 remaining to cut the lead to one, but Avallone and junior attack Drew Robshaw connected to give Mendham a 4-1 lead after one quarter.

“I think right off the bat I think we were too hyped up,” West Morris junior attack Ryan Antonelle said. “We were too nervous, but after all the jitters were out, it was golden.”

The second quarter was all West Morris. Antonelle scored just one minute into the quarter and Skurchak scored back-to-back goals to tie the game 4-4 with 7:16 left in the half. With 6.9 seconds to play midfielder Ryan Finlay scored on an assist from junior attack Cooper Sloan to give West Morris the 5-4 lead.

West Morris outscored Mendham 4-2 in the third to take a 9-6 lead, and with 6:55 left sophomore midfielder Kyle Garrison scored on an assist from Roche to pull the Minutemen to within 9-7. But Mendham couldn’t keep the offense going and Skurchak scored his fourth goal of the game on an assist from Sloan with 3:40 left for the 10-7 final.

“The offense moved the ball, the defense locked down, Drew Robshaw is a great player, we locked him down, locked down 38 (Avallone),” Antonelle said. “On the offensive side we had possessions, we moved the ball, worked the ball, worked to the open shot and stuck them.”

The Wolfpack moves on and will host sixth-seeded Morristown in the semifinals on Thurday in a rematch of last year’s North Group III quarterfinals in which the Colonials dispatched West Morris 6-4.

“Last year we only made it to this game against Morristown on this field, so it’ll be nice next game to go against the ones who defeated us last time,” Skurchak said. “I think we played really well as a team today and I think if we keep playing with that intensity we can move on.”

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: 973-428-6674; lknego@gannettnj.com

GOALS: (WM) Skurchak 4, Draghi 2, Antonelle 2, Sloan, Finlay; (M) Avallone 3, Roche, Robshaw, Czarecki, Garrison; ASSISTS: (WM) Sloan 3, Antonelle 2; (M) Roche, Avallone, M. Simmons; SAVES: (WM) Reilly 8; (M) Hedengren 12.