Lax: Penalties Plague Huskies in Loss to Byram Hills

A fast start quickly turned into a forgettable finish for the Harrison lacrosse team Tuesday afternoon, as Byram Hills outscored the Huskies 16 - 5 over the last three quarters on their way to a 16 - 7 win in Armonk.

Harrison's Jake Marino netted three goals in the game's first 20 minutes, including one just seconds into the game, as the Huskies built a 3 - 1 lead. But Byram Hills charged back late in the second quarter. The Bobcats capitalized on Husky penalties several times, scoring four unanswered to end the first half with a 6 - 4 lead.

"We can not play anybody nine on 10, we can't play with one less guy on the field against anybody," said Harrison coach Bruce Kinisky. "I don't care how good or bad the other team is."

Harrison faced the same problem in the second half. After both teams traded early goals, a late hit penalty against Harrison with about four minutes left in the third quarter proved to be the difference in the game. With a man advantage for three minutes Byram Hills rattled off five goals to extend the lead to 12 - 5 after three quarters.

"There's no personal part of this, there's no getting guys back, there's no anything but trying to play lacrosse," said Kinisky, who added that although some of the penalties might have been unwarranted, he will need to look over film to see which ones could have been avoided.

"You have to have some composure," he said. "The game is physical, but you can't do anything but play lacrosse and hitting each other with sticks randomly is just not a part of it."

The Huskies opened the fourth quarter with goals by Drew Pritchard, his third of the game, and Alex Acompora, to cut the lead to 12 - 7. But Byram Hills stormed back with four more of their own to finish with the 16 - 7 win. 

Scoring was balanced on the Byram Hills side, eight different players found the net led by Jordan Pollack and Jack Haron who both finished with three goals. Pritchard and Marino led the way for Harrison with three goals each.

But the biggest bright spot of the afternoon for Harrison may have been goalie Tony Conigliaro, who managed to keep Harrison close by fighting off tough shots throughout the game. Several times, especially with the Huskies a man down, the goalie bailed out his team with athletic saves in one-on-one situations.

"He played incredibly," said Kinisky. "The number of shots he took and all of the nonsense that went on out there, he played unbelievably."

Harrison will look to turn things around Thursday afternoon when they play host to Fox Lane at Harrison High School. Byram Hills will visit Horace Greeley, also on Thursday.