Jersey Mike’s Week 2 Boys Lacrosse Team of the Week: Wall Township

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Every week this spring, Jersey Mike’s and Shore Sports Network will be teaming up to select a Lacrosse Team of the Week based on its performance over the past week.

The Jersey Mike's Team of the Week for Week 2 is the Wall Crimson Knights, which continued to find their groove with an exceptional week that included an impressive victory against a defending sectional champion. Shore Sports Network stopped by practice on Thursday to present the Crimson Knights and head coach Victor Rivera with a special Team of the Week certificate and a $250 Jersey Mike's gift card.

The Crimson Knights entered the season with high expectations and as the No. 4 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10, and through the first week of the season got off to a strong start led by offensive stalwarts Matt Dollive and John McCurry and standout defenders Charlie Sasso, Billy Carr, and Dominick Giglio. Wall stood at 4-1 through the first 10 days of the season with the lone loss coming to No. 2 Manasquan, but the Knights really started to turn the corner in Week 2.

An overpowering 20-0 win over a solid St. Rose team began their week and the unrelenting play carried forward in an 18-0 victory over Class B South opponent Jackson Liberty. While a 38-0 margin of victory in two games is excellent no matter what, those were games Wall was heavily favored in. The real test came on Saturday, April 16 when Wall hopped on the bus and trekked down the Parkway to battle Southern Regional. The defending South Group 4 sectional champion Rams entered the game ranked No. 3 in the SSN Top 10 and undefeated, having just earned a one-goal victory over South Group 3 champion Ocean City.

What looked to be an even game on paper never materialized because Wall was dominant from start to finish. Spearheaded by the breakout work of freshman Michael Hoarle at the face-off X and the dynamic offensive leadership of Dollive, Wall stormed out to a three-goal lead after the first quarter and never looked back on their way to a statement-making 8-1 victory.

Wall's hot streak didn't stop with the win over Southern. Week 3 saw the Knights take down two more ranked teams with ease, beating No. 9 Red Bank Catholic, 19-6, before handling No. 7 Howell, 16-5, with a 19-3 win over Donovan Catholic mixed in. Wall is now 10-1 on the season.

Dollive, the Rutgers-bound senior midfielder, leads the team in points with 60 on 33 goals and 27 assists while McCurry, a junior attackman committed to Navy, has 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points. Junior midfielder Connor Moore has emerged as a reliable scorer, as well, with 29 goals plus eight helpers for 37 points. Sophomore attackman Jack Meyer (13g, 5a) and sophomore midfielder Will Madden (10g, 4a) have also been impact players in the offensive end while senior Jake Davis, who is used mostly as a defensive middie, has contributed six goals and six assists. Wall is averaging goals per game.

Wall's defense is yielding goals per game with Sasso, Carr (University of Denver recruit), and Giglio (Monmouth University recruit) at LSM leading the way. Junior Jack Belko and sophomore Michael D'Amico have stepped into starting roles and played very well. Senior goalie Aiden Kessler sports a 66% save percentage with 52 saves in nine games played.

The aforementioned Hoarle has been on fire of late, so much so that after a bit of a slow start he is now up to a 77% face-off percentage, which includes a 10-for-12 day vs. Southern, a perfect 22-for-22 effort against RBC, and an 18-for-25 game vs. Howell. FOGO was a question mark entering the season after the graduation of standout Kyle Wenzel, but Hoarle has proved to be a quick study to give the Knights a major advantage at the X.

Wall's season continues this week with two intriguing nonconference home games against Cherokee and Pingry before a Class B South game at Lacey.

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Week 1 - Point Boro