ATTACK MODE: Princeton High boys’ lacrosse player Gavin Pomraning, left, heads to goal in recent action. Last week, junior attacker Pomraning tallied four goals and four assists to help PHS defeat the Pennington School 18-4. The Tigers, who fell 18-4 to Scotch Plains-Fanwood last Saturday to move to 3-5, play at Hopewell Valley on April 23 and then host Millburn on April 25 and Allentown on April 28. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
In the wake of the Princeton High boys’ lacrosse team losing 20-1 to Notre Dame, Gavin Pomraning didn’t waste any time getting PHS getting back on the right track as it hosted Pennington last week.
Junior attacker Pomraning fired in a goal five seconds into the April 14 contest.
“It just felt good to get going right away,” said Pomraning.
“It gave me a big boost that I needed.”
That tally gave the Tigers a boost as they outscored the Red Hawks 5-0 in the first quarter. Junior midfielder Michael Frenia tallied two goals and senior midfielder Declan Hughes added one goal in that stretch.
“Our guys just have to step up, we didn’t step up to the plate against Notre Dame,” said Pomraning. “I feel like we did a better job today. Declan is always in the right spot. Michael is a stud, he can shoot from 20 yards away.”
PHS never looked back as it pulled away to a 18-4 win. “In the beginning of the year we didn’t really finish games,” said Pomraning.
“It was good. It is a testament to our conditioning. The coaches have been working us hard and we finally got to finish out a game.”
Pomraning, who ended up with four goals and four assists in the win, has looked to be more of a playmaker this season.
“Coach [Chip] Casto works with me a lot on making the right play and not just being a scorer but being a two-way player,” said Pomraning.
“Declan is always the first guy I am looking for. I think Abe Arshan found me, that was good. That is also credit to guys like Declan and Michael, just always being in the right spot and calling for it. I definitely feel like I am seeing it a lot better, I am dodging with my head up.”
Coming into the spring, Pomraning realized he had to shoulder more responsibility with the graduation of senior standouts Brendan Beatty and Braden Barlag.
“I looked to Brendan and Braden to lead the way, they were big-time scorers,” said Pomraning. “This year I have had to do a lot more dodging and a lot more feeding. I feel like I am better. I am also just coming up to goal with my left hand. It wasn’t something I was confident in last year but now I think my goals are half lefty and half righty.”
PHS head coach Casto credited his squad with looking much better collectively in the win over Pennington.
“We were moving the ball, we were trying to work on cutting down on our penalties and just trying to pick up the ball more,” said Casto. “We did that a little better. We tried to clear it a little better.”
Casto acknowledged that Pomraning and Frenia were the engines driving the PHS offense. Frenia chipped in five goals and one assist to go along with the eight-point output from Pomraning.
“We have just been trying to move the ball and distribute and not have Gavin and Michael do everything but they did do everything today,” said Casto. “Gavin is starting to see it better. Those two are obvious.”
The Tigers did show balance against the Red Hawks as 10 different players scored goals in the win.
“It was just one of these games where we were clicking,” said Casto. “We were scoring and we got the opportunity to get guys who have really worked hard for us to get in. We are not questioning their effort or attitude in practice but sometimes in games they kind of lose their mind because they are young so we are working on that.”
One of those young players, freshman Chase Gallagher, has been giving the Tigers a lift.
“Chase has been somebody who we didn’t know he would be this good,” said Casto of Gallagher, who tallied one goal and one assist against the Red Hawks. “He dodges and pushes it to the right person.”
At the defensive end, goalies Jacob Topolewski and Sam Gibb each played a half and excelled while defenders Ben Kahn and Julian Frevert patrolled the back line.
“The goalies both did well, it is nice problem to have,” said Casto.
“Ben is playing better. Julian has really been a great backbone for us.”
Going forward, Casto is looking for his squad to focus on fundamentals.
“It is just the basics, passing and catching, we are making a lot of unforced errors,” said Casto, whose team fell 18-4 to Scotch Plains-Fanwood last Saturday to move to 3-5 and plays at Hopewell Valley on April 23 and then hosts Millburn on April 25 and Allentown on April 28.
“It is riding harder, doing the off ball things. When the ball is not on your stick which is 80/90 percent of the time, you can still work hard and do things – ride, pick up the ground ball and being in the right place defensively in the passing lanes. It is all of those little things we keep talking about every day.”
Pomraning, for this part, believes that the Tigers made a statement with the win over Pennington.
“There were lots of games in the beginning of the season where we knew we were better than the result,” said Pomraning. “This is just showing everyone hey, we are good. It is just keep that good feeling.”