Conner Braddock closes in on a Hamilton West player. (Photo by Amanda Ruch). 

By: Mike Derucki
Fish4scores.com

Apr. 4: It was just another episode of the Conner Braddock Show on Monday afternoon as Steinert ousted cross-town rival Hamilton West 17-7.

Braddock tallied a school-record 9 goals and 2 assists to send the Spartans to a 2-0 record. Braddock now has 14 goals through two games. Anthony Cacace recorded two goals seven assists and Todd Jewell made 10 saves to secure the victory. Mitchell Fenton had five goals and Jared Dudich added one.

Conner is obviously an amazing player”, noted first-year coach Bob Ziegler, “but his best quality is that he makes the players around him better. He’s also a great leader both on and off the field.”

The Steinert transition offense has been excellent in its first two games netting a total of 33 goals.

Conner Braddock fires a shot. File photo by John Blaine

Steinert’s defense, anchored by senior captain Gianni Gonzalez, sophomore Tom McGovern, and freshman Nick Kasian, stifled West all game long. “We were very patient on defense,” said Ziegler, “we waited for them to make mistakes and pounced on them quickly.”

The Hornets were able to keep it close for a half thanks to the multiple face-off wins by Ryan Hogan (1 goal, 1 assist), the precision shooting of Mike Carbone (4 goals) and 2 goals and 2 assists from Dylan Ritchkoff.

The much-improved West, which upset Lawrence last week, will look to rebound Friday when it hosts Ewing High. The Spartans will travel to Delran on Wednesday to seek their third win.

Meara’s 8-goal explosion lifts Hamilton girls

Melanie Meara collected eight goals and two assists to pace the Hamilton West girls to a 12-11 win over J.P. Stevens. Amber Czyzewski added two goals and an assist for the Hornets, while Haley Barnacz and Stephanie Bisogno had one goal each.

It was the first win of the year for Hamilton (1-2), while Meara upped her goal total to 18.