Brewster Laxmen Bust into Semifinals

Brewster's Doug Biondi winds up and scores on this shot at Somers last Thursday. Skip Pearlman Coming into the Class

B tournament as the No. 10 seed, with a 7–9 record, most people didn’t expect to hear much from the Brewster High lacrosse team.

But the Bears took out No. 2 seed Mamaroneck, 11–6, last Tuesday on the road, then went into Somers for Thursday’s semifinals and very nearly pulled off another upset, before a late Tusker run settled the matter in Somers’ favor, 7-5.

Somers (12-6), the defending Class B champ, was set to take on top-seeded John Jay in the Class B championship game yesterday (Wednesday) at White Plains High School. The winner advances to the state tournament.

Thursday at Somers, Brewster led 2-1 after a quarter, and the Tuskers went into the break with a 3-2 advantage. Brewster tied matters at 4-4 in the third on a goal by Doug Biondi, but Somers answered with a three-goal run of its own, which was the difference in this one. Kevin Donahue put Somers up 5-4 with 1:25 left in the third, Kevin Cousin scored 20 seconds into the fourth, and Donahue converted again with 11 minutes left in the game to make it a 7-4 lead.

Tim Meyer of Brewster eludes a pair of defenders at Somers last week. Meyers had six goals in a quarterfinal win over Mamaroneck, and two in a semifinal loss to Somers. Skip Pearlman Matt Heintz scored for Brewster with 5:22 remaining, but the Bears were unable to sustain the momentum.

Tim Meyer finished with two goals for the Bears (7-8), Heintz, Ryan Minsker and Biondi each had a goal, and Kevin Farrell had an assist.

Donahue led the Tuskers with a hattrick and one assist, and Cousins added two scores.

Andrew Nicol stopped 13 shots on goal for Brewster, and Chris Longo had eight saves for Somers.

Matt Heintz had a goal and two assists in Brewster's win over No. 2 seed Mamaroneck last week. Skip Pearlman “I thought we played fantastic,” Bears coach Michael Honey said. “We had one day to prepare for Somers, I think we had a good game plan, and the kids came out and executed. And they did a great job controlling the tempo. Defensively, that was probably our best game of the year. Nicol played outstanding, Trevor Smith, a long stick middie, also has done a great job, and he handled Matt Deiana beautifully – he had no points.

“We hoped for a one-goal game going into the fourth, and w got it,” Honey added. “We had opportunities, we just couldn’t get the ball where we wanted it… and we had some one-onones with the goalie, and didn’t finish.”

In Tuesday’s quarterfinal win at Mamaroneck (14-3), Brewster opened a 4-1 lead after one, and carried a 6-4 lead into the break.

Bears keeper Andrew Nicol clears ball at Somers last week. Skip Pearlman Meyer’s six-goal outburst led the Bears, Minsker added two goals, Heintz had a goal and two assists, Paul Dingee and Farrell each scored once, Biondi handed out three assists, and Zack Salvia had two.

Nicol made 13 saves in net for Brewster.

“I was so impressed with our guys,” Honey said. “We lost to them earlier in the season, and we felt they were good defensively. We came out and went up 4-1, and the kids were ready to play. They came back and tied it at 4-4, but we didn’t panic, ran our offense, and added another two, then basically shut them out in the second half (Mamaroneck scored two goals in the last minute.”

The coach was impressed with the way his players closed out the season.

“I’m very happy with the way we closed it out,” he said. “We wanted to peak at the right time, and I think we did. I was very happy… you don’t want it to end when you start playing like that.”