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Fired-up West Deptford wins

A coach might see at it as undisciplined. Opponents might call them cheap shots. To the naked eye, it was obviously unbridled energy - the sources of which were numerous for the West Deptford boys' lacrosse team.

Haddonfield's # 1 Donny Siok gets whacked by West Deptford's # 11 Nick
Diaco during the Haddonfield at West Deptford H.S. boys' lacrosse
match on April 11, 2014.  West Deptford won the game 13-5. ( ELIZABETH
ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer )
Haddonfield's # 1 Donny Siok gets whacked by West Deptford's # 11 Nick Diaco during the Haddonfield at West Deptford H.S. boys' lacrosse match on April 11, 2014. West Deptford won the game 13-5. ( ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer )Read more

A coach might see at it as undisciplined.

Opponents might call them cheap shots.

To the naked eye, it was obviously unbridled energy - the sources of which were numerous for the West Deptford boys' lacrosse team.

"This is our biggest rival," senior Nick Ellis said. "On top of that, we haven't gotten off to the start we wanted to; we expected to have a winning record at this point. And we leave for our senior trip [Saturday], so we wanted to make sure we left on a good note."

Despite a seemingly endless string of slashing and illegal-check calls, the Eagles channeled enough energy in the right direction, running circles around visiting Haddonfield in a 13-5 win Friday night.

"Haddonfield's always been a big rivalry for us," West Deptford coach Mike Yarusso said. "We were fortunate to get some early offense, and that sparked a run."

The penalties were "undisciplined on our part at times," Yarusso added. "Part of it was the emotion getting the best of us and getting wrapped up in the moment."

Ellis and senior Joe Diaco each netted four goals for the Eagles (3-3).

Dan Halla and Gavin Cutrino netted two apiece for Haddonfield (1-5).

Ellis saw a goal disallowed with 17 seconds left in the first quarter because the referees determined that the pocket of his stick was too deep. That simply added to the list of things motivating the senior attackman before his trip to Disney World.

"That caught me by surprise," Ellis said, "but definitely makes you want to go out there and score even more."

West Deptford scored three goals in a 50-second stretch midway through the second quarter, two by Ellis and one by Paz Gismondi, to take a 4-1 lead.

The Eagles never lost control after that, despite being man-down for long stretches.

By the end of the third quarter, Haddonfield had been man-up eight times and West Deptford had just one minute with a man advantage. The Bulldogs held a six-minute advantage in penalty time in the first half.

The Eagles were shorthanded on two of the five goals they allowed, but turned in an overall solid defensive performance while their offense looked particularly electric for stretches.

"When we play in our system and an unselfish brand of lacrosse, I think we're a tough team to match up with," Yarusso said.

Haddonfield 0 2 2 1 – 5

West Deptford 0 6 2 5 – 13

Goals: H-Dan Halla 2, Mike Ragone, Gavin Cutrino 2; WD-Nick Ellis 4, Paz Gismondi, Joey Diaco 4, Gio Gismondi, Mike Davis, Jeff Todd, Kevin Gill.

Saves: H-Jeff Sabatini 13; WD-Nick D'Ottavi 11.