Chatham Boys Lacrosse Defends its Turf in 'Personal' 10-2 Morris County Semifinal Win vs. Lakes; Davenport 87% Save Percentage

CHATHAM, NJ -- So this is what the Chatham boys lacrosse team can look like when it's holding a grudge and feels disrespected.

The Cougars still hadn't gotten over the fact that Mountain Lakes had knocked them from the semifinals of the Morris County Tournament a year ago and they also felt they should have been the higher seed for the 2024 MCT.

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"This is personal," Cole Polemeni , Chatham senior middie, said. "They beat us in the semifinal last year. Coming to our home turf, we decided we were just going to put it on them and run up the score, and that's exactly what we did."

Polemeni and freshman Nick Lagunowich scored three goals apiece and senior goalie Henry Davenport made saves on 13 of the 15 shots he faced as No. 3-seeded Chatham defended its home field with a dominating 10-2 win vs. No. 2 seed Mountain Lakes on Saturday at Cougar Field.

Top-seeded and defending champion Delbarton (10-6) won the second game of the semifinal doubleheader, 17-6 vs. Morris Knolls to set up a Chatham (8-5) vs. Delbarton MCT final, 7 p.m. Tuesday at FDU in Madison.

Cole Polemeni, Henry Davenport, Nick Lagunowich, Colin Manitta and Charlie Lowe talk about the win

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Chatham plays a number of the top-ranked teams in the state on its schedule, but the one thing that's been holding the Cougars back in close games was that their opponents kept winning faceoffs and dominating possession. But Saturday, it was hardly noticeable that Jordan Hernando won 11 of 14 faceoffs for Mountain Lakes (10-4) because the Cougars kept causing turnovers and scooping ground balls.

"Great team effort, everything finally clicked for us," J.P. Lagunowich , Chatham's University of Virginia commit, said. "We talked about being good on one side of the ball, be it defensive or offensive, so the middle of the field finally clicked today and that's what happens when we win."

Chatham opened the scoring when defensive pole Lochlan Mahoney picked up a ground ball, carried it forward and fed Shep Boyd , who sent it to Charlie Lowe for the pass to Nick Lagunowich for the finish (see below).

Lakes won the ensuing faceoff, but that didn't matter because Patrick Roskell picked up a ground ball and carried it forward for Chatham, leading to Nick Lagunowich's second goal off a pass from Lowe. Senior attack Lowe's goal (see below) made it 3-0.

Polemeni scored the fourth goal of the first period (see below) and then scored the first goal of the second period, staking Chatham to a 6-1 advantage.

Nick Lagunowich was only in 8th grade last year when Chatham lost to Lakes in the MCT, but he brought just as much intensity to the game as the seniors, making the hit of the game in the second quarter (see below). He was whistled for a 1-minute penalty for the crosscheck.

"All week we were talking about how personal this game was going to be, so we really put an emphasis on bringing the intensity," Nick Lagunowich said. "I saw a chance to lay a big hit, so that's how it went down."

Defensively, Chatham was in lockdown mode while Davenport was stopping 87% of the shots that were put on net. After Merric Martorana scored with 1:41 left in the first period, the Lakers didn't score for nearly 34 minutes (actually 33:51) until Colin Masters broke the drought with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter.

"I just saw the ball really well today and again, credit to my defense as always, for keeping the shots outside and making them easy shots to save," Davenport said.

Chatham coach Christian Scarpello felt his team had a chip on its shoulder after not being named the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

"I think we had a little extra fire when we were snubbed for the two seed," Scarpello said. "Regardless, I think our guys played tremendous. We were stifling on defense, our middle of the field play was excellent and it showed. We're starting to play our best ball at the right time of the year. As mentioned, with the young roster and the schedule we play, you know you're going to take some losses. Media outlets have us ranked real low, but our losses are close ones to the best teams in the state and I certainly believe we are one of the best in the state, for sure.

"The goal all year has been the Morris County final, we've never won one, everyone in Chatham knows that. It's been the goal since since the beginning, first counties and then states."

Chatham entered the MCT on a four-game losing streak with one-goal losses to Montclair (8-7 in overtime) and Summit (5-4), a 10-7 loss to Westfield and an 8-7 loss to Delbarton (May 2).

"I know I just mentioned media outlets and where we're ranked, but I don't talk about it in the locker room," Scarpello said. "It's obviously in the back of my head. I laugh at it when I see it. I don't think many people have a great poll of who the actual best teams in the state are. It's similar to how we got the three seed. The system that is in place has holes in it so it's not always going to be perfect. All we worry about in our locker room and how I communicate to the players is how we can get better throughout the year."

COUGAR NOTES : Chatham is figuring that the fifth time will be the charm when it meets Delbarton to decide the 2024 MCT championship. In its previous four trips to the MCT final, the Cougars lost in the final to Mountain Lakes, 10-2, in 2021; bowed to Delbarton, 10-8 in 2017; Lost an 8-7 overtime game to Delbarton in the 2015 final and lost to the Green Wave in the 2013 final, 10-7 ... Only Delbarton (18 titles), Mountain Lakes (14) and Kinnelon have won the MCT ... Kinnelon won the first MCT held in 1988 and won it for a second time in 2010. There was no MCT in 2020 due to Covid.

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