Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/10/16
The Duke’s Young Guns 2020 team defeated Long Island power Team 91, 9-8, in an overtime thriller to claim the team title Sunday in the Winter Ball Lacrosse Series Championship at The Rink at Lehigh Valley.
The Dukes won it on a goal by team MVP John Veit, who took a feed from Brandon Ventarola off a crease cut. The goal came after Team 91 rallied from an 8-3 deficit and sent it into OT with 4 seconds left in regulation.
Veit and Ventarola led the offense all tourney for the Dukes while Zane Walsh was a defensive standout in the championship game after playing offense. Goalie Andrew Arcuri stood out in the championship game, making many point blank saves against a strong shooting team.
“This was a great learning experience for our players,” said Dukes coach Jack Forster. “Our coaching staff is very proud of how much improvement we saw game to game. It says a lot about our guys that after an OT loss to the same team in the play-in games and giving up a 5-goal lead in the championship they were able to stay the course and finish in the end.”
Forster was assisted by brothers Randy Forster.
Dukes 2020 Young Guns win the Winter Ball Lacrosse Series Championship; Left to right Top row: Coach Randy Forster, Griffin McGinley, Louie Baloh, Alex Belarmino, Mike Dougherty, Dom Burke, Matteo Garrifo, John Veit, Will Vandegrift, Ethan Gyllenhaal, Coach Hunter Jaronski, Zane Walsh, Tom McLaughlin, Coach Bryson Rhee, Bottom row: Matt McDonald, Andrew Arucci, Jake Bernstein, Matt Hemphill, Brandon Ventarola, Mike Kalai, Coach Jack Forster
The first three play-in games, the Dukes defeated Tri-State and then battled back in the second game to take Team 91 to OT before falling short.