Kyle Gibney Sparks Chatham Lacrosse’s Victory in Morris County Tournament Semifinal Win Over Mountain Lakes

It is not often that Chatham High School (N.J.) Boy’s lacrosse wins without star sophomore Nicholas Lagunowich registering a single goal.

But he was blanked all game long, making it difficult him for him to score.

However, junior Kyle Gibney picked up the slack, recording five tallies and two assists in the Cougars’ 13-11 victory over Mountain Lakes in the Morris County Tournament (MCT) semifinals Saturday at home.

“They’re known for doing that,” head coach Christian Scarpello said of the Lakers double covering Lagunowich, who had two helpers, for most of the tilt. “So, we were prepared for it, and I think we did a decent job with what we had. We expected Nick to get pressed out on, and that’s what they did.”

Gibney credited his impressive offensive performance to the teamwork he established with senior Declan Leahy, who also enjoyed a solid game.

“Yeah, they were shutting off Nick,” Gibney said. “Me and Declan were finding each other. I was finding him inside; he was finding me outside. We were working great together.”

Mountain Lakes struck first early in the contest. But Gibney tied it up at 1-1 not too long after that.

Chatham (12-2) fell behind 2-1 with 8:24 to go in the period before sophomore Charlie Dunn knotted it up at 2-2 with 7:30 remaining in the first quarter.

The Cougars surged ahead, 4-2, with markers from Leahy and Gibney with 5:49 left in the first period.

But the Lakers responded with two goals of its own to once again even up the game at 4-4 with less two minutes before the quarter concluded.

Chatham reclaimed its two-goal lead at 6-4 after Gibney and sophomore Quinn Grosso each found the back of the net with 10:55 to go in the second period.

A Mountain Lake player snapped off a shot that found its way to the top left shelf to close the gap at 6-5 with under nine minutes left in the first half.

On a man advantage, however, Dunn scored a tally and then markers from Gibney and junior Lochlan Mahoney helped the Cougars extend their advantage to 9-5 with 0.45 remaining in the second quarter.

Chatham doubled up the Lakers at 10-5 in the third period before they sliced the deficit to 10-6 with 6:55 to go in the period.

Mountain Lakes clawed their way back to within two goals to narrow the gap at 10-8 with 9:45 left in the affair.

A waved off Lakers’ score kept the game at two tallies.

Needed a tally, Leahy scored a huge goal, assisted by Gibney, to swell the Cougars’ lead to 11-8 with 4:34 remaining in the tilt.

Gibney made it 12-8 with 2:29 left in the game. Dunn added another marker to widen the gap at four late in the contests.

But Chatham’s defense let up a bit, permitting its lead to shrink to two goals in a little over a minute near the conclusion of the affair. But it was not enough to overtake the Cougars in the end.

When asked what the biggest reason for the victory was,” Scarpello replied: “I think it was just energy. We knew they would be super fired up. We beat them up pretty good, obviously, twice last year. So obviously, they had that in the back of their mind. It always a rivalry between Chatham and Mountain Lakes. So just (our) energy was the biggest thing.”

The Cougars will face the winner of today’s other semifinal matchup between Delbarton and West Morris in the MCT Championship game Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Drew University.

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Jerry Del Priore