By Lou Monaco for the TAPCLARK, NJ — In a classic New Jersey boys lacrosse rivalry game, the Hilltoppers outlasted the Blue Devils on Saturday night.
Sophomore attack James Grainger scored two goals with an assist and senior attack Daniel Flaim posted one goal with a game-high three assists to lead second-seeded Summit, No. 9 in the latest NJ.com Top 20 rankings, to a 6-5 victory over top-seeded and No. 6 Westfield in the championship of the Union County Tournament at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark.
Summit (12-2), which has won nine straight games since an 8-0 loss to at Delbarton on April and got redemption for one of their only two losses on the season so far — a 5-3 setback at Westfield on April 4 in the second game of the season, won their sixth straight UCT crown.
However, the Blue Devils were not going to go down without a fight, scoring three goals in the third quarter to tie the game up at 5-5 entering the fourth.
Junior attack Colin Coyle and senior attack Cody Lam each had one goal with an assist and junior midfielder Billy Gerne, senior long stick middle/defense Michael Marshall, and junior attack Garrett Ferguson each posted one score to account for all of Westfield’s offense in the first three quarters.
Sophomore goalie Robbie Kievit made 12 saves to seal the win for the Hilltoppers, while Westfield junior goalie Corey Gilford made seven saves.
Westfield (9-4) has dropped three of their last four games and was seeking their first county title since 2017.
“We just sat down as a team and said, ‘What do we want to do now?’ We didn’t sulk,” said Flaim after the win. “We just showed up the next day and went right back to work. We worked just as hard as we had the day before that game. We show up to practice every day to work no matter what happens. That’s the culture of this program. That’s the players, the coaches, the alumni, the parents, everybody. It’s unbelievable. It just shows how great this program is top to bottom.”
A program that has added yet another county crown to its trophy case.
