WARD MELVILLE 13 BALDWIN 6

4/7/99  Baldwin, New York

The Ward Melville Patriots opened the 1999 season on Wednesday with a 13-6 victory over a very tough Baldwin team who was more than ready for them.  The game was played before a spirited opening day crowd.  The game was the opener for both teams.

Baldwin Coach Jim Kasper is very familiar with Ward Melville and used it to Baldwin's advantage in the early part of the game.  After an unsettled ball on the first face-off, Baldwin brought the ball down the field on a fast break and scored the first goal with less than a minute off the clock. The Melville defense looked nervous and gave up a second goal soon after.  Ward Melville settled down and struck back with four unanswered goals for a 4-2 lead. 

Melville continued to struggle early, giving up many ground ball opportunities which came back to hurt them.   Baldwin took advantage of Melville's sloppy play and scored the next three goals to go up 5-4 at half-time.

The second half saw a much better Melville team.  They scored quickly in the second half, dominating the face-offs, took control of the game and never looked back.  The game was sparked by the play of sophomore attackman Matt Monfett and junior defenseman Chris Passavia. Their tireless efforts helped inspire the team at both ends of the field.

This was the first game of the season and the first test under pressure for the first and second units at midfield as well as attack and defense. The attack worked well together and seniors Derrick Preuss and Brendan Morgan were extremely tough.  Junior attackman Todd Cunningham looked good in limited time on the field having recorded one assist.

Derek Kunkel had six saves and was helped by his new defense of Chris Passavia, Brian Mendez, Mike Carolan, Ryan Kelaher, and Nick Belvedere.  Defenseman Chris Passavia made several sparkling full field rushes scoring two goals.

The win was an important step in the winning tradition at Ward Melville.  Go Patriots!

TEAM

MELVILLE

TOTALS