By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/27/15
For a group of lacrosse players at Interboro, just taking a day at the beach means a lot more.
For the fourth year in a row, nearly the same group of Interboro and Kingsway (N.J.) lacrosse players won a division title at the Morey’s Piers Beach Lacrosse tournament, winning the title in the U18 division July 19 in Wildwood, N.J.
The team of Nate Murtha, Gabe Lombardi, Tyler Murphy, Jake Pfaff, DJ Drohan, James Curtis, Antonio Saporito, Tyler Kuni, Brandon Stouch and Dan Mea toppled the Vernon Lax Goon Squad, 12-10, in the final to avenge Interboro’s only loss.
Using the name of the Interboro Beach Bums, the team has enjoyed surf, sun and sticks each year.
“I have played all four years for the title with the team and I don’t regret one moment with any of them,” said Pfaff, one of the team’s returning captains. “I think the reason we have been so successful in our years of the beach lacrosse tournament is because of our team’s cooperation with each other.
“We all communicate well and become even more of a team on and off of the field/sand. We all motivate one another to do better and I think one thing that keeps us going, that not a lot of teams can do, is not blaming each other for little mistakes. We take every little mistake into account for the whole team to fix, not just one person. We come together.”
The Beach Bucs fell to Vernon, 15-13, in their first meeting. But Interboro responded in the rematch.
“We knew the title game with Vernon was going to be tough, given that they beat us our first game of the tournament,” Pfaff said, noting his squad played up a year and had all rising seniors and rising juniors. “That was the first time we’ve been beaten by a team in our four years of playing.
“I tried my hardest to motivate my team into believing that nobody had more heart than us and that if we played lacrosse like we knew how to play and all communicated and cooperated with one another the whole game, we would come out on top. The game itself was a one-in-a-million experience. I would kill to play that game again just for the love of the competitive sport.
“That whole game was a battle of who wanted it more, and we showed that we wanted it. I will say, it was a little tough playing in a league a year above our actual age group, but a good challenge never hurts anyone, and we overcame the challenge.”
Why does Pfaff like playing on sand?
“Playing on sand is a little tough, but it’s something that you just begin to adapt to,” Pfaff said. “One of the biggest struggles playing on sand is when you have to scoop the ball because you come up with the ball and a mound full of sand that blows everywhere.
“Getting sand in your eyes is another problem, but most of us just fight through it until we get pulled off. Other than that, it’s just a normal game of lacrosse.”
