J.P. Lagunowich's 4 Goals Give him 100 in His Career for Chatham Boys Lacrosse in 20-13 Morris County Tournament Win

CHATHAM, NJ -- No Chatham boys lacrosse team has ever won the Morris County Tournament and ending the 35-year drought was once again in focus on Tuesday when the No. 3 seeded Cougars opened MCT play with a 20-13 win vs. Mount Olive at Cougar Field.

Still, the Cougars got a chance to take note of a significant milestone in the third quarter when senior middie J.P. Lagunowich picked up a ground ball on the defensive end, carried it forward and fired in his fourth goal of the game to give him 100 in his storied CHS career.

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"I was his freshman coach when he did get bumped up to varsity so I've truly been with him for four years and been able to see him develop into a player and a young man," Christian Scarpello , Chatham coach, said. "I can't speak highly enough about who he is and what he has done for this program. Truly, he's had such a tremendous career.

"Just his leadership and who he is as a person is always what stood out to me most. We're obviously going to miss him a ton next year. A super special player and person."

Chatham (6-5) also got five goals from senior attack Charlie Lowe , three goals from senior middie Cole Polemeni , three goals from freshman attack Nick Lagunowich , two goals from senior middie Colin Manitta , and a goal apiece from junior Ryan Grosso , senior Remy deVarenne and junior Declan Leahy .

Charlie Lowe, Nick Lagunowich and J.P. Lagunowich talk about the milestone

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Chatham plays host to No. 6 seed Jefferson (10-3) on Thursday in the MCT quarterfinals and a win would put them into the semifinal round that is being held at Cougar Field on Saturday.

"We feel great," Scarpello said. "We've definitely taken our lumps to get to this point. We kind of knew that was coming with the schedule that we play and just the youth of our roster. But we do have enough senior leadership and these young guys have grown throughout the spring so far.

"The goal for our team has always been the county championship. It was the same thing last year. It's never been done in Chatham. For us to say we're the first to bring it home is super important. Every focus right now has been on the county championship as it has been."

The heavily favored Cougars moved to a 6-2 lead vs. Mount Olive (5-9) in the first quarter and held a 12-4 halftime lead. J.P. Lagunowich scored the first goal of the game to set the tone (see below).

Lowe scored the second goal in transition later in the period. Sophomore defender Paul Kuppenheimer picked up a ground ball, carried it forward and earned his first career assist when he fed Lowe for the finish (see below).

Manitta scored both his goals in the second period, the first on a downhill run and bounce-shot finish (see below) and the second off a pass from J.P. Lagunowich with 4.9 seconds left in the half.

COUGAR NOTES : Chatham coach Christian Scarpello has always focused on the team's accomplishments, but he did some reminiscing about J.P. Lagunowich's career after the senior middie scored his 100th career goal.

"Three times first-team all-conference, which is incredibly hard to do," Scarpello said. "I'm not sure there has ever been a sophomore to get first team All Fitch-Pitt. Obviously a USA Lacrosse All-American last year. The kid committed to the (University of Virginia) one of the top programs in the country.

"Playing in the Fitch-Pitt and the guys we schedule out of conference, we don't make it any easier on ourselves. All these teams have poles who are committed to ACC schools and those are the guys covering him. Last week against Delbarton, the kid covering him is also committed to UVA and J.P. took him three times to the rack and showed up in a big game. He's been doing that since his freshman year. He scored the winning goal in the state championship game , which is pretty incredible. To get to 100 goals in the conference and schedule that we play and matchups he draws is nothing short of amazing."

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