American Heritage Delray's seven early goals drop North Broward Prep
COCONUT CREEK, FLORIDA – American Heritage Delray raced out to a 7-0 start behind freshman attackmen Deven Rosenberg and Xander Gerard to defeat North Broward Prep 14-7. Both Gerard and Rosenberg scored quickly as the Stallions took a 2-0 advantage after one period.
Rosenberg’s first of three goals came on a nice feed from Noah Metzger to beat the first quarter horn. The junior attackmen/midfielder lined a strike from near midfield to Rosenberg who hit the back of the net. Along with two more by Rosenberg, the Stallions picked up goals from sophomore Gianni Comuzzi, Metzger, and sophomore Evan Finkle during the run to take a 7-3 lead to the half.
“I like how hard we played,” said American Heritage Delray head coach Craig Fleishman. “We played from whistle to whistle. As you said, we got a lot of guys in. We are a young team, so that experience is very important. North Broward Prep plays very hard. We have a lot of respect for them as well as all of our opponents.
"We hope to keep building and getting better every day. Xander Gerard is a freshman for us. We really like his game. Number twelve Evan Finkle also does very well for us. And, number two Noah Metzger are some of our better guys and more experienced players. But we are building and developing our skills every day. We hope to get some of the other guys on the board soon.”
North Broward Prep's scored three straight, including two from junior captain Jacob Tannenbaurm, at the end of the half to climb back into the contest. Junior captain Nolan Corcoran also scored with under a minute remaining. Tannenbaum added two more goals in the second half while Corcoran picked up another.
Along with tough defense, the Stallions received a strong performance in goal from Oliver Pawlowski. The sophomore netminder made some key early saves and held North Broward Prep in check until well into the second quarter. Sophomore goaltender Peter Chapman also saw playing time in the second half.
The Stallions once again had a strong start in the second half. American Heritage Delray scored the first three goals, including one by Gerard to take a 10-3 lead with 4:53 remaining in the third period. Gerard would add another goal in the fourth quarter for the hat-trick. Sophomore midfielder Milo Riccioli also played a strong fourth period with two goals.
Ryan McGovern, a junior defender/long-stick middie for American Heritage Delray, said the Stallions' strong start is due to better team chemistry, better work ethic and improved talent, all brought by the team's new coaching staff.
Photo by Michael Costeines
“It was a great game out of the boys, a good win to have,” said junior defender/long stick midfielder Ryan McGovern. “We lost last game so it was good to come back with another win and get the team morale up going. We should have beat them by more, so that just means we have to come harder tomorrow in practice and bring it with all we got. I love (the season) so far. Coach has been really putting in the work, bringing in new staff and everything. Recruiting a bunch of players. It’s really working good so far. Better chemistry between everyone. More commitment to practices and an overall better season.”
American Heritage Delray, winners of five of their last six, move to 8-3. North Broward Prep falls to 3-4.
