Last season was a rough one for the Pine Bush boys’ lacrosse team.

The Bushmen fielded a young team in 2023, and struggled mightily, winning only four of their 14 games.

This season is shaping up differently as the Bushmen have won four of their first five after Thursday’s 10-4 non-league win over the Highland Huskies at Marlboro High School.

“It feels amazing,” senior Isaac Cruz said.

“There’s no better feeling than winning.”
The Huskies had won five straight.

Cruz is a big reason the Bushmen have been winning as he is averaging five goals per game and 1.7 assists per game. He played up to that on Thursday with four goals and two assists.

“He’s definitely a catalyst,” Pine Bush coach Mike Ciarelli said. “He draws a lot of attention from other teams. It opens up his teammates.”

Speaking of his teammates, Colin Carey and Anthony Godinez each had two goals and an assist. Gavin Carey and Chris Sgourdas had a goal each.

Dominick Cirelli made nine saves and Henry Brown added eight.

“They played hard, and they played good together as a team,” Ciarelli said. “That’s the biggest thing for us. To stay together as a team. We had a little dip in the middle there but bounced back to score.”

The dip came in the second quarter after the Bushmen took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on Cruz’s first two goals and one by Colin Carey.

However, no one scored in the second quarter, and the game went into the half with the Bushmen leading by three.

The Huskies struck first blood in the third quarter as Eben Yager rifled a shot past Dominick Ciarelli to put the Huskies on the board.

“That kind of angered us,” Cruz said. “We didn’t want them to score in the entire game. So, we came out and just kept running up after that.”

Cruz scored two more goals, and Colin Carey added his second of the day to give the Bushmen a 6-1 lead. Then immediately after, Sgourdas scored his first goal of the game. Godinez followed with 2:39 left in the quarter.

“At halftime, we instituted a new offense,” Cruz said. “We set a lot of picks. We worked off the ball. Everybody was chipping in, and everybody was moving the ball. Everyone’s communicating well. So, we just came out and we put on a really good showing.”

Highland’s Logan Davis scored the first of his two goals with 47.9 seconds left in the third and Gavin Carey responded about 10 seconds later.

Godinez scored in the fourth and Highland’s Kamrin Doyle scored the final goal of the game with 17.8 seconds left in the game.

“For the defense, communication is always the key,” coach Ciarelli said. “So, when they’re able to communicate the way they did for most of the game today, we can show an offense that has some power.”

The Bushmen have a busy week this week playing two key league games, both on the road. They opened the week on Monday against the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders and then will travel to the Kingston Tigers on Wednesday and Warwick on Friday.

“I feel good about where we are,” Cruz said. “We’re developing. We’re constantly getting better every day. So, I’m happy with my guys.”