WindMill Boys Lacrosse Team of the Week: Shore Regional

Every week this spring, WindMill Restaurants and Shore Sports Network will be selecting a Boys Lacrosse Team of the Week based on its performance over the past week.

The WindMill Team of the Week for Week 4 (April 22 to April 28) is Shore Regional, which won both of its games by an average of 14 goals to remain undefeated and clinch its first division title in program history. Shore Sports Network stopped by practice this week to present the Blue Devils and head coach Gregg Malfa with a special certificate and a $300 WindMill gift card.

Shore began its week with a 19-3 win over St. Rose where senior midfielder Jack McCrae scored five goals and added one assist and sophomore Sean O’Brien won 25 of 26 face-offs to lead the way. Senior attackman/midfielder Jake Turner added four goals and one assist, senior attackman Justin Murphy notched two goals and four assists and senior midfielder Gil Goldsmith had a goal and four assists. Senior attackman Tom Bocco contributed a hat trick, freshman midfielder Jamie Mazzacco had two goals and two assists and sophomore midfielder Terry Carlstrom had a goal and three assists. Junior Scott Sirianni (three saves) and freshman Nico Kotch (four saves) split time in goal.

On Saturday, April 27, the Blue Devils delivered an emphatic 15-2 win over Lacey in a battle of unbeatens that clinched the Shore Conference Class B South division title. The two teams played a one-goal game last season with Shore winning in overtime, but this time the Blue Devils dominated from start to finish to claim their first division championship. Goldsmith tallied two goals and nine assists to reach 300 career points, Turner scored five goals, Mazzacco added three goals and one assist and McCrae notched two goals and two assists. Bocco had two goals and one assist and Murphy had one goal and one assist. O'Brien won 13 of 21 face-offs and Sirianni made five saves.

Shore followed the historic, division-clinching win with another very impressive result on Tuesday. The Blue Devils, who entered ranked No. 4 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10, pulled away from No. 9 Freehold Township for a 17-6 win on the cutoff day for the Shore Conference Tournament.

Shore hasn’t played as challenging of a schedule after being realigned from Class B North to Class B South, but they have taken advantage of every opportunity. Against the three top opponents on its schedule – Ocean, Lacey and Freehold Township – Shore won by a combined scored of 52-17. The Blue Devils have outscored opponents 185-43 so far this season.

Goldsmith is having a Player-of-the-Year-caliber season with 21 goals and 49 assists plus 74 ground balls. Turner has also had an excellent season with 44 goals and 26 assists. There is plenty of balance on the offensive side with McCrae (33 goals, 23 assists), Bocco (32 goals, 13 assists) Murphy (17 goals, 19 assists) and Mazzacco (18 goals, 12 assists) all contributing on a consistent basis.

O’Brien has been a huge difference-maker at face-off X with a 72% winning percentage and 94 ground balls. Junior LSM Jake Shirley has also been a huge weapon coming off the wing on draws and in the defensive end. Defensively, Sirianni has .632 save percentage in back of the defensive trio of senior Gunnar Schuelzky and juniors Liam Rempel and Ryan Dolan.

Shore has another top-10 matchup scheduled for Thursday against Southern Regional before the Shore Conference Tournament gets underway on Saturday.

Managing editor Bob Badders can be reached at bob.badders@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.