https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Nisky-finds-winning-form-12917951.php
Nisky finds winning form
Silver Warriors overcome slow start with strong second quarter in victory over Shen
Published 12:07 am, Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Schenectady
Mike Vorgang, in nearly a quarter century of constructing the area's most dominant boys' lacrosse program, has never sugarcoated anything when addressing his Niskayuna players. If they are not measuring up, he is going to tell his team so.
Tuesday evening following the Silver Warriors' 15-10 victory over Shenendehowa on Senior Night at Union College, Vorgang wasted little time evaluating his squad's showing.
"You have got to come out and play more consistent all the time," Vorgang told his charges afterwards.
"We just didn't play Niskayuna lacrosse and coach was very angry about it," Niskayuna senior long-stick defender Kamren Thomas said. "He coaches us to be consistent. We were not early."
"We came out very slow," Niskayuna senior midfielder Eoghan Sweeney said. "I told the guys that we can't let two goals turn into four. We got our heads back up and we were able to finish the shots."
Following a less-than-stellar opening eight minutes when Niskayuna fell behind 2-0, the Silver Warriors kicked things into gear late in the opening period and then produced an outstanding second quarter that helped establish a 9-3 cushion. Through the evening's highs and lows for Niskayuna, there was one constant: Sweeney controlling the X. The senior standout finished the night winning 25 of 27 faceoffs.
"I thought we had some quality possessions in those first eight minutes and got six or seven good shots, but you have to can a couple of those," Vorgang said. "We kept winning the faceoffs, so they got us more opportunities. Tonight, we played a good quarter and a half of lacrosse. That is something that needs to change."
The Silver Warriors (14-1 overall, 12-0 Suburban Council), ranked No. 10 in Class A, controlled the ball for more than 11 minutes in the second quarter and outscored No. 19 Shenendehowa (11-4, 10-2) 6-1.
"It was a good night," Sweeney said. "I always want to go 100 percent. It is very hard to do."
Sweeney did not score a goal, but he did set up Thomas' second score of the evening after drawing three defenders to him following a win on the draw. It was the seventh goal of the season for Thomas.
"It was great man," Thomas said. "We did a few times before. We've talked about that and practiced and practiced it. When (Sweeney) is good, we have to be good because he is going to see a lot of triple-teams (after winning the draw)."
"He was amazing," Vorgang said of Sweeney. "It was not just winning the clamp, it was the toughness he showed through all the checks. He had a nice assist (to Thomas) and took some pretty good shots."
Eric Makhatadze (four goals, two assists) rallied Shen within 9-6 in the third quarter. Drew Collins scored his fourth goal in response for Niskayuna.
Collins finished with a game-high five goals, including the first three on man-up situations via assists from Tyler Gregory.
"We definitely made a change on the extra man and slimmed some things down," Vorgang said. "We wanted to get good at a couple of things instead of OK at about 10 things."
jallen@timesunion.com • 518-454-5062 • @TUSidelines
