In a year of some big numbers put up in Western New York high school lacrosse, here is another one: 112 (and counting).
Bishop Timon-St. Jude junior Connor Fields broke the state record for goals in a season today with his six-goal effort in the Tigers' 20-1 home victory over Nichols in the Monsignor Martin Association semifinals.
Fields surpassed the mark of 108, which was set by Billy Kurisko of Nanuet in 1986.
Fields, who committed to the University at Albany last fall, also had five assists while Lewis Vaccaro had four goals in today's game.
Timon has one more game locally with the possibility of another. The Tigers will meet St. Joe's -- which beat St. Francis, 14-11, today -- on Tuesday for the Monsignor Martin title (time and location to be announced). The Monsignor Martin champion will advance to the state Catholic championships downstate, against representative from Long Island or Westchester.
St. Joe's lacrosse recorded a tremendous victory today.
But there is a tremendous amount of controversy about the finish.
St. Joe's beat longtime Monsignor Martin power Bishop Timon-St. Jude, 13-12, in two overtime Monday afternoon at St. Joe's. The loss ended 49-game win streak for Timon in Monsignor Martin regular season games. The Tigers' last loss was to St. Francis on May 19, 2007.
Junior James Bassett scored 59 seconds into the second overtime after Timon thought it had won the game.
I watched the live video feed via sjci.com. It's available here; the archived broadcast is not available yet but should be within the next 24 hours. I could not tell whether or not Timon's goal was actually a goal. Here's what I saw:
The final game of the championship tripleheader at First Niagara Center is the game formerly known as the Federation Catholic Final, now called the Niagara Cup Final, featuring Bishop Timon-St. Jude vs. St. Joe's.
We're kind of on deadline, so we'll provide updates ASAP.
First period
St. Joe's scores first, on the power play as Eric Paradowski backdoor one timer from Dimitrios Gogos with 11:30 left. St. Joe's leads 1-0.
Second period
Typical St. Joe's vs. Bishop Timon game so far (at least parts I've been able to watch) as both teams are playing tough, physical. Goals even harder to come by in this one.
WOW. What a pretty goal by Niagara University commit Dennis Gilbert. After breaking up potential short-handed chance near own blue line, he retrieves puck on left side, makes quick charge down the wing and cuts to front of the net against Timon defender and beats goalie with nifty one-hander. He flat out beat the Timon defender to that spot. Knocked into crossbar at end but St. Joe's leads 2-0 with 19.5 left in period.
Today is the first of seven straight days of hugely important boys basketball games as the Monsignor Martin Association's Manhattan Cup semifinals are held at Canisius College. Canisius will meet St. Mary's at 6 p.m., followed by St. Joe's meeting Bishop Timon-St. Jude around 7:30.
I'll provide play-by-play updates in the live blog below and I'll have periodic #preptalkscores updates via Twitter which will also appear in the blog.
Your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores are welcome -- as they will appear in the live blog as well. You can comment on these games or others. Every night, scoring update tweets (in any sport) are welcome to those on Twitter -- just use the #preptalkscores hashtag.
Check our scoreboard page for a complete schedule of tonight's games; the scoreboard will be updated as we receive game reports throughout the evening.
Sunday's semifinals at Canisius College 4-St. Mary's (19-6) vs. 1-Canisius (20-4), 6 p.m. 3-Bishop Timon-St. Jude (12-13) vs. 2-St. Joe's (20-5), 7:30 p.m. Championship
Wednesday at Canisius College, 7 p.m.
MONSIGNOR MARTIN GIRLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Saturday's quarterfinals at Canisius College 1-Cardinal O'Hara vs. 8-Nichols, 10 a.m. 4-Nardin vs. 5-Christian Central, 11:30 a.m. 2-Sacred Heart vs. 7-Mount Mercy, 1 p.m. 3-Holy Angels vs. 6-Mount St. Mary, 2:30 p.m. Semifinals: Tuesday at Canisius College, 6 & 7:45 p.m. Championship
Fri. March 1 at Canisius College, 7 p.m.
Every week during the basketball season a panel of voters participates in The News' large and small school boys basketball polls.
And every week we let you know, like the title says ... how The News voted.
This week marks a change at the top as Canisius takes over the No. 1 large school spot for Niagara Falls. Canisius had a great start to what should be a fun month, winning at Timon Friday, beating Section V Class AA power Fairport (then ranked second in the state) on Saturday, becoming the top-ranked team in the Class A state poll on Monday and ascending to The News No. 1 spot today.
This is just one ballot -- there are nine other voters in each poll. This week's News poll is available via the high school home page. Here's the direct link.
1. Canisius (15-3) [last week: 2] -- I said I was waiting to see Niagara Falls and Canisius this past weekend to see if there was a move to be made for this spot, and the results made it a clear one. Canisius was all over Fairport from the start and then made the plays to hold on. Fairport, Bishop Kearney (which Falls lost to Sunday) and Webster Schroeder (which Falls lost to Saturday) are considered to be tightly grouped together when it comes to who is the best Class AA team in Section V.
Keith McShea has covered high school sports at The News since his hiring in 1999. The 1995 University at Buffalo graduate and Long Island native (North Babylon Bulldogs) covers — and live blogs — everything from scrimmages to state championships & helps head The News' All-Western New York selections.
Lauren Nicole Mariacher joined The News in 2009 after graduating from the Columbia University School of Journalism. The Elma native and Iroquois graduate can usually be found on a sideline, capturing highlights for PrepTalkTV. She also hosts Prep Talk's weekly live show, with Keith McShea, as well as The News' live postgame Bills show — [BN]TheHuddle.
