After gliding through a first half that went probably far better than expected, New Providence confronted obstacles in the second that it certainly would have rather avoided.
But considering what lies directly ahead for the Pioneers, what they would have wanted – which would have been to continue rolling right along – probably is not at all what it needed.
Fourth-seeded New Providence built a seven-goal lead in the first half behind the hot hands of Jackson Benward, T.J Munn and Michael Henry, then fought off a determined fifth-seeded Johnson in the last two quarters for a 13-10 victory in the quarterfinals of the Union County Tournament Monday at Lieder Field in New Providence.
“We did a good job of getting to them early. We have a bunch of athletes on this team and we just kept playing, doing what we needed to do,” said Benward, a senior attackman who buried three of his career-high four goals to help New Providence (12-3) forge an 11-4 lead en route to its eighth consecutive victory.
Munn and Henry each connected on two goals in that first half and Jackson Zarinko had one of his two in that prolific opening half. In the second half, with Johnson having shifted to a zone, the Pioneers went 9:24 before scoring their first goal of the second half, then waited another nine minutes to score again.
“It wasn’t pretty in the second half, but we’ve got a lot of grit,” Benward said. “Didn’t finish the way we wanted, nonetheless we got the win.”
The reward for that win is a semifinal-round battle Thursday against top-seeded and sixth-ranked Westfield in Westfield.
Might just be that the sudden uncertainty, the added drama and intensity, all the extra sweat the Pioneers were forced to invest in the second half against scrappy Johnson (12-3) may be exactly the formula New Providence needed to better prepare for Westfield.
“We all know what they’re capable of and how good they are,” New Providence head coach Russell Anderson said of Westfield. “For us, it’s all about how do we get better as a team against arguably one of the best public school teams in the state?
“Either you go with a quarter’s mindset or you go in saying, ‘Hey, let’s go earn some respect.’ “
Which is exactly what Johnson earned by shrugging off its seven-goal deficit after one half to narrow the gap to 12-9 early in the fourth quarter on Adrian Varona’s second goal of the game.
Zarinko, a senior attackman, netted his second goal off a feed by AJ Whitehead with 5:38 remaining for a 13-9 New Providence lead. Lucas Spearnock provided the final goal for Johnson off a pass from Rob Tyra with 2:44 to go.
Tyra, a senior attackman, and sophomore middie Jack Kalikas each finished with two goals and two assists while Varona and Matt Robertazzi scored twice each for the Crusaders. Senior Joey Ortega was a big part of Johnson’s comeback effort by winning 16 of 23 at the faceoff X. Kalikas was 1 of 2.
“Johnson is a tough team. When they get that momentum going, they’re hard to stop,” Anderson said. “They did a good job of answering the bell and not giving up. But I’m happy with my guys; we got a couple we needed in the second half to put us over the edge.
“Would I have liked to be a little cleaner in the second half? Absolutely, but these are how these games go with us,” he said. “Johnson and New Providence have been battling like this for years.”
The Pioneers defeated Johnson, 13-8, in a North Jersey Interscholastic Lacrosse League-Kimber Division battle April 27, then topped Gov. Livingston, 13-8, six days later to clinch the divisional championship.
New Providence got out of the gate strong in that first game with Johnson, but not like Monday.
Johnson actually grabbed a 2-1 lead in the first 56 seconds with goals by Tyra and Robertazzi, but then New Providence suddenly opened up a dodging clinic against the Crusaders’ man-to-man.
Henry scored twice and Benward, Munn, Whitehead, Matt Botvinis and Ryan Knight each connected once to push New Providence to a 7-2 lead in the first quarter. The Pioneers stretched that lead to 9-2 with Zarinko and Benward scoring in the first 3:09 of the second period.
“We just adjusted to what they threw at us. We knew they were gonna slide a little late, so we jus knew whoever had the shorty (shortstick defender), dodge them,” Benward said. “We had enough athleticism and speed to get around them and try to get a shot.”
Mike Kinney can be reached at mkinney@njadvancemedia.com.
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