Although their campaign to defend their 2015 Section I title has been fraught with a few disappointing losses, the Mamaroneck Tigers played to form on Tuesday, April 26, downing host Harrison 14-7 in what may have been their most complete performance of the year. As the Tigers look ahead toward the playoffs, they hope this week’s win will prove to be the turning point in an up-and-down season.
The Tigers’ offense was firing on all cylinders on Tuesday, led by a terrific performance from Emmett Fay, who finished with five goals and an assist and Chris Conley who found the net three times. Tyler Menitti scored three goals for Harrison, but it was a great defensive effort by the Tigers, who opened up an 11-4 lead by halftime that proved to be the difference-maker.
“We knew that Harrison was a good team and that we needed to come out and play our best,” said Mamaroneck goalie Jack Dente, who finished with 18 saves. “Today, we got it done.”
Dente admitted that the 8-6 Tigers had a little extra urgency coming into the game against Harrison. On April 21, Mamaroneck was upset at home by a Pelham team that had fallen to the Huskies earlier in the year. Taking the field on Tuesday, the junior netminder said that the Tigers’ goal was simply to play good defense and erase the memory of last week’s 16-13 defeat.
“Pelham was an off-game for us, defensively we should have played better,” he said. “But knowing that Harrison beat Pelham a few weeks ago, it really motivated us to come out and win this game.”
If the Pelham loss raised any questions about the Tigers’ ability to shut down the opposing offense, the win over the Huskies should have eased those fears. Dente made a number of key saves in the second half, and the Tigers were even able to turn the Huskies away when facing a three-minute-long man down penalty in the fourth quarter.
“We just started talking a little more and nobody got down on themselves,” Dente said. “We started rotating really well and everyone stayed positive out there.”
With the loss, Harrison falls to 3-8 on the year, but remains one of the more dangerous sub-.500 teams in Section I. They will travel to Eastchester on April 30 to take on the Eagles at Haindl Field. The Tigers will look to build on the momentum of Tuesday’s win when they take on White Plains on May 3, after press time.
“We feel confident,” Dente said. “We showed that not only can our offense score, but our defense can hold it down as well, and that just makes us better as a whole.”
