Kyle Shann had an outstanding game as he was bombarded with shots in the goal position but the Gaels were unable to compete against the speed of the Madison players.  Shann was credited with 13 saves and some of them were at point blank range.  Ollie Starnes played well defensively as he denied Madison a goal in the first quarter and put lots of pressure on the opposition.  The scoring for the Gaels began with a beautiful feed from Keown to Slinger to keep the game close in the first quarter 3 to 1.  Madison scored a goal in the second that was allowed but the player had to serve a stick penalty.  Conwell was tripped up by Madison but was able to connect with D'Agostino on his way down to score.  Some good defensive plays saw Simon stripped the ball recover it and Kitchin  stole  the ball at midfield as the Madison player held the stick back too far.  The final scoring for the Gaels occurred in the fourth as both Cope and Keown put together individual drives to the net.

 

 

 

The last two games for the JV were played with some players missing as Monday Night the Mt. Arlington crew had their Confirmation and Tuesday night was Confirmation for Roxbury.  Rufino and Murphy shared the goalie position and the defenders for the Gaels were Bartholomew, Eichvalds and O'Donnell.  Lots of middies saw action as Blinn, Cunneen, Inge, Meehan, Meeth, Oates, Richman, Biank, Kyle Smith, Vaccaro and Esposito played a strong game.  The attack line was Shann, Cummings, Rozi and Shears.  The scoring for the Gaels was began with Richman's feed to Cummings for the goal and then an unassisted goal by Meehan.  The score was tied through the third quarter but Madison was able to pull ahead in the fourth to secure the win. 

 

The Gaels were able to play evenly with West Morris but in the end they

were outscored 7 to 5.

Kyle Shann put in an outstanding effort in the goal and made some spectacular plays to keep Roxbury in the game.  Ollie played strong defensively and forced many turnovers to help the cause. His feet would start moving and you knew that he would match his player step for step.  Cope began the scoring with a drive through the crowd to find the back of the net.  Crowley had an interception and Cancelliere always seemed to come up with the ball in midfield to keep the game evenly matched. The defense held the wolf pack to only three goals in the first half.  The refs kept the crowds entertained with their very animated hand motions.

The scoring picked up for the Gaels in the second half on a beautiful play as Milde stripped the ball and passed it in to Kitchin who fed it to Slinger for the goal.  Cope had another unassisted goal followed by a beautiful forced shot by Kitchin to bring the game within reach.  After a questionable call by the ref where Crowley stripped the stick from a West Morris player the ball was given to the pack and they were able to score.  Doug Kitchin got his second assist on the day as he was able to connect with Slinger for the final score of the game.  It was a physical game and Roxbury was able to come up with most of the ground balls.  The field conditions were slippery and the weather was a bit cold with cloudy skies. 

 

 

Both the varsity and the JV notched up another victory in their Friday game against Livingston.

 

The varsity won the match-up against Livingston  8 to 5 to bring their record to 3-4.

The scoring for Roxbury began with a drive from D'Agostino in the opening minutes to light up the board.  The next score came from the attack line as Slinger knocked the ball loose from the Lancers and was able to recover it and pass it in to Kitchin who fed D'Agostino for the second points of the day.  Crowley had some nice steals and he was able to convert one for his first goal of the season as he drove down the field with his long stick  and was able to place it in the net.  Livingston only answered with one goal in the first quarter and Shann had some great saves as the goalkeeper.  In the second quarter Milde was able to connect with Slinger for the goal and then Slinger was able to pass the ball in the crowd to Kitchin who was able to complete the play to put Roxbury up 5 to 1. The three C's of Crowley, Cancelliere and Canning were able to put a lot of pressure on the offensive line of Livingston to force many turnovers to benefit the Gaels.  Meehan scored on an unassisted goal to complete the scoring for the first half.  Torlucci saw some time in the goal in the second half and D'Agostino was able to find the net on the man-down whip around play.  The final scoring on the day came from Brian Cunneen as he received a pass from Meeth and was able to drive to the goal.

The game was completed with a yard sale play from Crowley.

 

 

 

 

The Gaels outplayed the Lancers by 10 goals to walk away with a needed victory.  The goaltender position was shared by Rufino and Murphy and they both put in a strong performance.  Cummings started the scoring for Roxbury with an unassisted  wraparound shot that passed the goalie. Next Inge was able to connect with Cummings for his second point of the game.  Cummings then assisted with the next two scoring drives as he connected first with O'Donnell and then to Kurt Shann.  Meeth was able to connect with Rozi to give Roxbury it's fifth goal.  Cummings then pulled a double fake shot that found the net off of a feed from Shann and then Shann with a tip in by Blinn.  Cummings continued with his wraparound play to again find the net unassisted.  Inge had his second assist on the day with a feed to O'Donnell for the goal.  The middie line showed lots of strength as they outplayed Livingston and the attack line proved to be solid.  The defense, led by Caltagirone, Peterson, Eichvalds and Bartholomew contained the Lancers to only five goals.  Coach Blough was able to mix things up a bit by letting the players try different positions.  The most notable change was Peterson on offense where he was hungry to score a goal.  Cummings  had the game of his life as he was credited with another assist this time to Rozi and then he took a golf shot to find the back of the net.  That gave him a total of five goals and three assists on the day.  Inge was able to get another assist as he fed Oates for the score followed by Kyle Smith's feed to Shears.  The scoring was completed by Shann as he put two more in the net. The first was  an unassisted goal followed by a fake shot pass from O'Donnell to Shann who shot behind his back for the goal.  By the end of the game the parents were cold and wet (as Nick O'Donnell noted so were the players) but very proud of their boys.

 

 

 

ROXBURY Defeats GLEN RIDGE

 

Roxbury improved their record on the varsity level by dominating the game against Glen Ridge on Tuesday.  Kyle Shann put in an outstanding performance in the goal by making 12 saves and the defense held Glen Ridge to 5 goals.  Kevin Kelly won most of the face offs with the assisted effort of Ollie and Cancelliere.  That set up Roxbury to control the ball for the majority of the game.  Defensively, Crowley was able to shut down Glen Ridge's leading attackman and Peter Grenot found himself in unfamiliar territory as he carried the ball to the offensive side of the field.  Simon filled in defensively for RJ Cannings who is sidelined with an injury and  he was able to intercept a Ridge pass to return the ball to Roxbury's offense.  The scoring began with a clear-out play to allow Sean Milde to drive to the net virtually untouched.  Next D'Agostino was able to score which would be his first of four goals.  Cope followed with a goal and that put the Gaels up 3 to 1.  Kelly put a lot of pressure on the Ridge middie line and forced a turnover along with Kitchin putting pressure on the clearing sequence to force the player out of bounds.  The pressure of the Gaels allowed them to spend most of the game on the offensive side of the field.  After a half time break Roxbury allowed two quick goals but they were not going to go down without a fight as they came back with four goals.  Slinger had the first with an assist from Tim Keown and D'Agostino scored a hat trick in the second half to finish the game.  One goal was on an assist from Skewes, the next came from a pass by the Glen Ridge team right into the pocket of Dag's stick to allow the goal and the third was from a fast break to get the unassisted goal.  Total shots on goal for Roxbury was 14 but there were many more scoring opportunities.  This puts the Gaels at 2 - 4 with their hardest games behind them.  They showed that they can work the ball around and force the turnovers.  Keep up the good work!

 

 

 

ROXBURY JV WINS BIG OVER GLEN RIDGE

 

The JV had an outstanding game against Glen Ridge on Tuesday after a long wait in the hot sun to come away with a 9 to 4 game.  The goalie position was shared by Murphy in the first half and Rufino in the second half and both put in a good effort.  The MVP on the day had to be Chuck Cummings with five goals and  an assist.  Nick O'Donnell helped maintain the control of the game by coming up with most of the face offs and then assisting with three goals and scoring one unassisted goal.  The scoring began with a shot into the net by Inge with the assist from Smith.  Next came the one-two combo of O'Donnell to Cummings for the next two goals.  Cummings came up with his hat trick on a feed from Kurt Shann and he followed that up with feeding Shann for the fifth goal for the Gaels.  Defensively Maccione had some strong hits and Peterson provided a strong defense.  The next three goals came from the unassisted efforts of Cummings, Smith and O'Donnell.  The last goal of the game came from the team of O'Donnell to Cummings to help Roxbury walk away with the win.  The word of the day was "hustle" as everyone put in a strong effort to contribute to the victory.

PINGRY OUTSCORES ROXBURY

 

Despite an outstanding effort from Kyle Shann in goal, Pingry was able to outscore the Gaels 8 to 2.  Roxbury was credited with 16 shots on goal but only 2 were able to penetrate to light up the scoreboard.  Shann made 11 saves against a HUGE offensive line.  The attack line of Slinger, D'Agostino and Kitchin had the only points on the day for Roxbury.  Doug Kitchin fed Greg Slinger to prevent the shutout and Andrew D'Agostino finished the day with a drive from behind the goal to put it in the net.  Sean Milde, Mike Cancelliere and Mike Crowley each had a play where they striped the ball from the opponent and made a drive to the net.  Unfortunately Pingry's goalie was able to make the save.  Kitchin was able to force two turnovers by pressuring the goalie and Kevin Kelly won many of the face offs. The defense had their hands full with the size of the Pingry players and their goalie took up most of the net.

 

 

 

 

JV HAS A CLOSE GAME AGAINST PINGRY

 

 Roxbury was able to keep the game close but in the end Pingry was able to put one more in the net.  The scoring for the Gaels was led by Mike Inge as he was able to light up the board twice.  One was from a feed by Kurt Shann.  Nick O'Donnell had a beautiful connection to Chuck Cummings for a goal and Rozi completed the scoring with an unassisted drive to the net.  Offensively Rozi, Shann, Inge, Cummings, O'Donnell, Oates and Smith were able to work the ball around well to keep Pingry on their toes.  Peterson, Bartholomew and Eichvalds contained Pingry on the defensive side of the field and helped keep the scoring to a minimum.  The goalie position was shared by Rufino, Torlucci and Murphy.

ROXBURY PUTS IN STRONG GAME AGAINST SETON HALL

The final score was 7 to 4 but Roxbury put in a strong performance against the state ranked Seton Hall Pirates.  The defensive effort was outstanding as Cancelliere put on his own form of pirating and had many steals with drives down the field.  Ollie was relentless with his quickness to make a pest of himself and both him and Simon created  yard sale situations on the field.  Crowley, RJ and Grenot  defended their goalie Shann with a vengeance especially after the Pirates had a quick scoring sequence right after half time.  Other than that short run the play was even as Roxbury held them to one goal each in the first two quarters and shutting them out in the fourth.  Kyle Shann put in an outstanding effort in the goal where he was credited with 11 saves and Kevin Kelly won many of the face offs.

The scoring for Roxbury was a complete Mt. Arlington effort as Doug Kitchin had two goals, Tim Keown scored with an assist from Austin Meehan and Kris Skewes recorded his first varsity goal.  The team is looking stronger and playing well together. 

 

 

ROXBURY JV TAKE ON SETON HALL PREP

The JV had a strong game against Seton Hall but unfortunately they came up short 5 to 3.  Nick O'Donnell was the victor in the face off department and the defensive put in a strong effort. Brian Oates had a great game as he made his presence known to the pirates both on the field and in the net as he scored  an unassisted goal.  Mike Inge put the ball in the net with an assist from Chuck Cummings and Inge also was credited with the assist to Kurt Shann's goal.  Eichvald, Peterson and Smith had a strong showing with putting pressure on the opponents and Mike Esposito showed that he was a man with lots of quick moves.  The goalie position was shared by Rufino and Murphy and they were each credited with many good saves..  Other notable players in the game were Rozi, Shears, Vaccano, Gregory and Biank.

Cummings, Shann, O'Donnell and Inge showed that they have what it takes to move the ball around and keep the play on the offensive side of the field. 

ROXBURY GETS SHUTOUT

Nationally ranked Summit came on strong and didn't let up as they overpowered the Gaels on Thursdays match up under sunny skies.  Matt Torlucci protected the goal and was kept very busy.  He had 9 spectacular saves that I recorded along with other blocked shots. The defensive line was kept busy and never gave up. After a hard week of games I am sure that the spring break will aid in their regrouping and help them gear up for Seton Hall on Tuesday.

 

 

 

JV GIVES SUMMIT A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY

Roxbury had a strong game against Summit as they entered the 4th quarter in the lead but they were unable to hold of the drive of Summit.  The final score was 7 to 8.  The scoring drive for Roxbury began with Mike Inge's feed to Cummings for the goal followed by an unassisted effort from Rozi.  The next two goals came from Kris Skewes as Kurt Shann and Nick O'Donnell were both  able to connect with him.  Nick Blinn found the net with a feed from Rozi and Chuck Cummings had his second goal of the day with an assist from Brian Cunneen.

 Skewes completed his day with a hat trick as he completed the scoring with an unassisted goal.  A strong effort was put in by Peterson, Caltagirone and  Bartholomew defensively and Oates, Inge, Biank, Meeth and O'Donnell assisted the offensive effort.  The goal was shared by Ruffino and Murphy who both put in a gallant effort.

With many delays and missed practices the freshman finally got to see how they will come together when they took to the field on Wednesday.  Coach Benbow is pleased with the turnout as he has a roster of 19 young men.  # 8 Justin Nicholson will be spending time protecting the net as goalie for the freshman team and he turned in a great performance on Wednesday.  Helping him guard the net is the size and strength of Brendan Beal and the quickness of Gregory Spero.  David Lucia, Danny Lobrace and Chris Totter will also be the protectors of the goal.  The middie line will be led by the speed to Michael Kulisz and the drive of Jon Carroll.  Carroll was the lone scorer in Wednesdays match-up as he put two in the back of the net.  Rounding out the middie line will be Byron Kutlosky, Greg Camasta, Jeremy Pascale and Tim Ryan.  Zac Garripoli was sharing his time as a middie and defender.

Ray Henricksen and Mark Slinger had some nice connections on the offensive side of the field but unfortunately the shot sailed wide or the goalie was able to make the save but the potential is there.  That effort will be aided by Kyle Drobnis, Bryan Palanch, Oscar Hernandez and Ryan Doll.  They did not take a win on Wednesday but there are a lot of new players on the field and a few that took last year off.  I am sure that with a bit more time they will be the team to beat. 

CHATHAM SHUTS DOWN ROXBURY

It was not what the Gaels wanted after a big win over Columbia but they couldn't match the strength of the Chatham players.  After waiting for almost an hour for Chatham to show the game got off to a late start and Roxbury came out a bit slow.  The was not to be the case in the second quarter as they rallied back from a 6 point deficient to come within one goal.  The scoring started with a lucky pin ball shot from Cope that hit off a few players before it found it's way into the net.  That was followed by a beautiful pass from Milde who connected with Dags for the score.  D'Agostino would walk away with four goals before the day was done to lead the scoring for Roxbury.  Meehan, Keown, and Slinger assisted his scoring drives.  Milde and Cope finished the scoring for the Gaels.  Shann put in a strong effort in goal with  18 saves but the size of the Chatham players even dwarfed Crowley as they powered in.  The defensive effort was led by Grenot, RJ and Crowley along with a strong performance by Perillo, Tennick, Cancelliere  and Maccione.  At one point in the game a Chatham player took a cheep shot on Simon Tennick at midfield.  The flag was thrown and as Simon got up it looked as if he was going toward the other player.  As only a crowd that knows their players can do the entire bleachers yelled "SIMON" at the top of their lungs.  He proceeded to jog peacefully off the field!  Good for you Simon. Roxbury played a hard game and never gave up. 

 

 

 

JV KEEPS GAME CLOSE IN THEIR LOSS TO CHATHAM

 

The JV players had a long wait before it was their chance to take the field.  The goalie position was shared by Torlucci, Rufino and Murphy and a strong effort was put in defensively by Caltagirone, Bartholomew and Peterson.  The scoring was led by Conwell with a hat trick off of assists from O'Donnell and Blinn.  Blinn also gave the assist to Meeth for the final goal of the game.  The final score was Roxbury 4 and Chatham 5.