White Plains Defense Denies Scarsdale in Opener

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – White Plains boys lacrosse coach Mark Armogida has seen plenty of progress from his team since scrimmages began a few weeks ago.

That progress led to a stellar defensive effort on Monday in which the Tigers held visiting Scarsdale to just two goals.

“During the scrimmages, we had times where we couldn’t match up the right way,” Armogida said. “Our second slide wasn’t there. Our first slide wasn’t there. We started to come together. The biggest thing we’re doing better defensively is communicating. Our communication’s gotten a lot better.”

White Plains fell behind, 1-0, to Scarsdale in Monday’s contest. But from there, it was all Tigers (1-0) as they held the Raiders (0-1) to just one more goal.

Junior Robert Lorden rarely let a ball get past him on Monday and the defense in front of him made his job much easier. He did struggle to clear the ball on occasion, which Armogida noted after the game amid praise for his goalie.

“Robbie’s solid in goal. He stops the ball like a champ. We just got to work on his clearing issues,” Armogida said. “Other than that, the goaltending’s phenomenal.”

Scarsdale goalie Connor Wolfe recorded seven saves on Monday.

Captains Nick Leone and Drew Ahlers each scored two goals for White Plains. The Tigers graduated players who accounted for 105 of the 154 goals the team scored last season, so offense could be at a premium for White Plains this year.

“It’s tough this season. We did lose Mike Trapp, Dan Broderick, two 100 point scorers in their career,” said Jeff Avery, senior midfielder and team captain. “A lot of younger guys and a lot of guys who are returning as seniors have to step up. We’re a young team, but we’re very athletic. We’re flying around. We’re making plays. So I hope we’re going to have a good season.”

Scarsdale coach Tim Weir said after the game that basic errors led to the opening game loss.

“We just made a lot of mistakes. It was basically, bottom line, was catching and throwing,” Weir said. “If you don’t do the fundamentals correctly and you don’t zoom in on that, then not a lot of good things are going to happen. So that was probably the difference.”

 

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