WestieBlue

BOYS LACROSSE 2024

THE HOME OF WEST HAVEN SPORTS

Westies top Rockville
Burrows, Ullah lead way in first victory
By MIKE MADERA
Westie Blue
(April 6, 2024) - After two losses to start the season, the West Haven boys lacrosse team got in the win column with a 10-3 victory over Rockville Saturday evening at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven.
Yousaf Ullah and Marcus Burrows led the way with four goals and one assist apiece, Justin Bruno had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Porto had three assists in the win.
“Marcus Burrows and Yousaf Ullah each had four goals and one assist,” West Haven coach William Wezenter said. “Max Ginsberg led with five faceoff wins, and Justin Sean Bruno had eight ground balls.
“Yousaf Ullah created momentum with the first goal in the second period off of a Thomas Porto feed at 6:14 which opened up the offense.”
Holding a 34-8 shot advantage in the game, West Haven led 2-0 after the first quarter and 7-1 at halftime.
Burrows got things going for the Westies when he scored off an assist from Jason Alling with 8:18 remaining in the first quarter, before Ullah scored off an assist from Porto 1:08 later for the 2-0 lead.
The Westies pulled away in the third quarter as Burrows scored off an assist from Porto with 6:14 left in the half, Ullah scored off an assist from Porto 1:05 later, and Burrows scored again off an assist from Bruno with 3:26 left in the half.
“The boys executed well and ran the plays with great timing,” Wezenter said. “Marcus (Burrows) and Yousaf (Ullah) really turned up the offense in this game, combining for eight goals and two assists.” 
Ullah scored an unassisted goal with 2:41 left in the half and Burrows gave the Westies a 7-1 lead at the break off an assist from Ullah.
West Haven used goals by Bruno off an assist from Burrows and an unassisted goal by Ullah  in the third quarter, before Iannotti scored an unassisted goal in the fourth quarter. 

Westies fall to Shelton
Gaels roll to 11-1 win over WH
By MIKE MADERA
Westie Blue
(April 9, 2024) - The West Haven boys lacrosse team fell to 1-3 with an 11-1 loss at Shelton. Marcus Burrows scored West Haven’s lone goal and T.J. Levenduski made 16 saves in the defeat as Shelton held a 29-18 shot advantage.
Burrows broke the shutout with 8:22 left in the fourth off an assist from Javed Ullah.“We were undermanned and missing starters,” West Haven coach William Wezenter said. “We gave them a tough go for the first half as it was 3-0 at the end of one and 4-0 at halftime. We just can’t play defense the entire game and expect to win.”

Hamden slips past Westies
Burrows, Ullah lead way in first victory
By MIKE MADERA
Westie Blue
(April 15, 2024) - The West Haven boys lacrosse team fell to 1-4 with a 6-2 loss at Hamden. Marcus Burrows scored both West Haven goals and T.J. Levenduski made 17 saves in defeat.
With the game scoreless at the half, Burrows scored off an assist from Jason Alling with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter. Burrows scored the final West Haven goal with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter.
Hamden held a 31-18 shot advantage in the game.

“T.J. (Levenduski) and the defense were outstanding, but, ultimately could not stop Hamden from sneaking away in the fourth,” West Haven coach William Wezenter said.

North Haven thumps Westies
WH falls 18-4
By MIKE MADERA
Westie Blue
(April 18, 2024) - The West Haven boys lacrosse team fell to 1-5 with an 18-4 loss at North Haven. Marcus Burrows and A.J. Iannotti each had a pair of goals in the loss for the Westies.
North Haven held a 48-10 shot advantage in the game with Ben Pizzano scoring eight goals and adding four assists.
“North Haven’s Ben Pizzano was the best player we have faced all season with eight goals and four assists,” West Haven coach William Wezenter said. “He truly made the game tough. He is the best shooter we will face. T.J. (Levenduski) did well to finish the game in a positive manner. Leo Mazuroski managed several takeaways on Pizzano.”
Iannotti scored his first goal of the game off an assist from Mark Lynch with 8:54 left in the first quarter, while Burrows scored off an assist from James Olsen 1:35 later for a 2-1 West Haven lead.
“In the beginning of the game, we went up 2-1 and took control of the game early which seemed to have surprised North Haven,” Wezenter said. “Their skill and tempo caught up to us as they flew by in the second quarter.”
Burrows scored an unassisted goal with 7:13 left in the third, and Iannotti scored off an assist from Thomas Porto with 3:13 left in the fourth.

“A.J. (Iannotti) and Marcus (Burrows) set the tone early with hard-earned goals,” Wezenter said. “The boys came into the game with great energy and gave North Haven all they could handle for the first quarter before succumbing.”

​Westies top Montville
Burrows leads way in 13-8 victory
By MIKE MADERA
Westie Blue
(April 20, 2024) - The West Haven boys lacrosse team improved to 2-5 with a 13-8 victory over Montville Saturday evening at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven.
Marcus Burrows led the way for the Westies with seven goals and one assist, Thomas Porto had two goals and one assist, Yousaf Ullah added a goal and two assists, while Brandon Doody, Jason Alling and A.J. Iannotti also scored. T.J. Levenduski made 19 saves in the win, while Cole Hill had eight faceoff wins.  
West Haven jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one quarter as Burrows scored with 10:44 remaining, then added another three minutes later, before he scored his third with 6:14 left in the opening quarter off an assist from Porto.
The Westies took a 5-3 lead to the half as Burrows scored off an assist from Ullah with 5:13 left in the second quarter, and Porto added his first 42 seconds later.
“Going into halftime, we were two men up with a two-goal lead,” West Haven coach William Wezenter said. “We hold the ball to retain possession, and run our man up scores a goal to take a 6-3 lead which really began our momentum as we went on a five goal run to control the rest of the game.”
West Haven pulled away with a 4-1 run in the third quarter. Burrows and Porto scored unassisted goals 31 seconds apart, Burrows scored off an assist from Ullah with 4:02 remaining, and Doody tallied with 1:10 left in the third.
With West Haven leading 9-4, each team scored four times in the final quarter. Iannotti scored with nine minutes remaining, Burrows added his seventh with 6:16 to go, Alling scored off an assist from Dylan Ginsberg 2:12 later, and Ullah scored off an assist from Burrows with 33.4 seconds remaining.

“We had three rookies step in at defensive midfield recently, brothers Mark and Paul Lynch, as well as Kaiden Powell, who have really given us quality minutes and are becoming defensive cogs,” Wezenter said. “Freshman James Olsen keeps finding his way into the offense and is due to break out. Overall, the kids played hard, and despite a four-goal run by Montville in the last five minutes of the game, the boys kept it together and won.”

​Branford outlasts Westies
WH comes up short in 7-6 defeat 
By MIKE MADERA
Westie Blue
(April 23, 2024) - The West Haven boys lacrosse team fell to 2-6 with a tough 7-6 loss against Branford Tuesday evening at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven.
Despite three goals from Yousaf Ullah, and two goals and two assists from Marcus Burrows, West Haven could not pull out the victory. T.J. Levenduski made 14 saves in the loss.
West Haven’s lone goal in the first quarter came from Burrows at the 9:53 mark, before Burrows scored again in the second quarter off an assist from A.J. Iannotti with 9:48 left in the half as West Haven trailed 2-1 after one quarter and 4-2 at the half.
Ullah got West Haven within 5-4 in the third quarter when he scored off an assist from Myles Cortes with 3:23 remaining and again off an assist from Burrows with 1:22 left.  
Freshman James Olsen scored with 10:20 left in the fourth off an assist from Burrows, before Ullah got West Haven even at six off an assist from Tyler McColgan with 2:26 to go.
The Westies had a 32-30 shot advantage in the game, but Branford scored a late goal to take home the win.

“Tyler McColgan started a massive fast break and led Yousaf Ullah open on a pass to hit the game-tying goal with 2:26 remaining in the game,” West Haven coach William Wezenter said. “After going man-down for 11 minutes in 3 quarters, the boys settled down, did not commit another foul, and rallied to come back and tie things up with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Despite the final outcome of 7-6, the kids showed great response to adversity and rallied in ways that they have not previously done to compete for the entire game. I am proud of them for coming together.”