Cardozo Lacrosse Defeats Curtis High School, 10-3

The chilly grey clouds held back long enough Friday evening for the Cardozo Judges varsity lacrosse team to earn a 10-3 victory over the visiting Curtis High School Warriors from Staten Island.

All-American Jason Chen finished the game with four goals and fellow senior Brian Pollard added four of his own in a clear-cut victory for the Judges. The win improved Cardozo’s record to 3-2 overall.

Sophomore Jensan Liu and senior Jesse Ward each added a goal for a Judges’ team that has won every other game this season. 

“We got off to a rocky start in our first game this year against Tottenville with that 10-0 loss, but we’re slowly starting to get on the same page,” Cardozo’s head coach Chris Milani said. “We’re climbing up that hill and we’re slowly getting to where we need to be.”

The Judges are just one of 16 lacrosse teams within the city limits. They compete in the championship division along with Midwood, Tottenville, Christopher Columbus, New Drop and Frederick Douglas.

Cardozo’s lacrosse players often have little to no experience playing the sport prior to their arrival.

“I started playing lacrosse my freshman year,” said Chen, who will play next year for SUNY Oswego. “We’re one of the only schools in the city that have lacrosse.”

Chen has registered 14 goals and eight assists in this season’s first five games.

This season, Cardozo suffered tough loses to both Tottenville and Midwood, but have won against a struggling New Drop (2-4), a winless Frederick Douglas (0-6) team and now Curtis High School, whose team came into Friday’s game with a record of 2-3.

“This year, we are more of a team on the field,” said Milani, who is in his seond year as Cardozo’s varsity coach. “This team works well together compared to last year’s team, which had a lot of talent. We have a stronger offensive unit then we did last year. This year’s group works better together.”

The Judges showed composure in the second half against Curtis and proved they can close out a game.

After falling behind 4-0 at halftime, Curtis’ team got back in the game when senior Michael Cannilla scored twice. However, the rally was short lived.

“Our off-the-ball movement was a little bit slow in the first half, but then we started to draw the defenders out,” Milani said. “After that we really started to find each other.”  

In the second half, Chen scored three goals and Pollard scored two of his four. Curtis senior Adebowale Godwin nabbed points, but the Judges answered back by scoring seven times to close the game. 

The Judges have a rematch with Tottenville on Monday at home at 5 p.m.