Bruckner Leads Ward Melville Past Shenendehowa, Into State Championship

Story by Brendan Thomas

POUGHKEEPSIE – Ward Melville’s two-time All-American Jack Bruckner had seven points on five goals and two assists, leading the top-ranked Patriots to a 13-6 win over Shenendehowa in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association boy’s lacrosse semifinal game at Marist College.

Ward Melville (21-0) also received three goals apiece from Daniel Bucaro, who also added an assist, and Brendan Hegarty. Christian Mazzone had two goals and scooped up a game-high five ground balls. Bruckner was also 12-15 in face-offs and Adam Lapitino was 4-7 as well. Daniel Nemirov made seven saves in net for the Patriots.

Shenendehowa (18-4) opened the scoring just 17 seconds into the game but Brendan Hegarty answered with a goal assisted by Michael Cirrone at the 10:36 mark of the first quarter.

After the Plainsmen regained the lead at 6:59, Bruckner won the ensuing face-off and raced down the center of the field for his first goal just seven seconds later.

“We have been a very good defensive team all year,” Ward Melville head coach Mike Hoppey said. “I think that is the first time anyone scored four in the first quarter on us all year, and that is a tribute to [Shenendehowa’s] offense. We were a bit nervous about their offense from the game tape.”

After the back-and-forth early portion of the first quarter, Ward Melville began to show its dominance on defense, holding Shenendehowa scoreless for the final 16:36 of the first half, and a 23:30 stretch overall. Meanwhile, the Patriots scored four consecutive goals in the second quarter to take an 8-4 lead at the midway point.

Bruckner scored consecutive goals for Ward Melville, in a 1:50 span to start the second quarter, to give the Patriots a 6-4 lead with 9:44 on the clock. Bruckner then found Bucaro just 42 seconds later to pad the lead to 7-4. Mazzone completed the scoring in the second quarter with an unassisted tally with 5:16 left before halftime.

Ward Melville brought the streak to six consecutive goals by scoring the first two in the third quarter. Bucaro found the back of the net just 13 seconds into the period on an assist from Jake Kepes. Hegarty scored a man-up goal, on an assist from Bruckner, to bring the score to 10-4 with 9:21 on the clock.

Hegarty answered a Shenendehowa score with his third goal of the game, off of a feed from Daniel Decker, at 3:52 to bring the Patriots’ lead to 11-5 going into the final quarter.

After Shenendehowa scored the first goal of the fourth period to pull within five, Bruckner scored his final two goals, the latter coming on an assist from Bucaro, to provide the final margin.

“Jack [Bruckner] is our first two-time All-American in quite a while. He had been in a slump the past three games so we knew he was due,” Hoppey said of his Duke University-bound leading scorer.

Ward Melville will face West Genesee, who defeated Penfield 11-6 on Wednesday, in the state championship on Saturday. The game will be played at 4 p.m. at St. John Fisher College in Rochester.