Charlie Lowe Notches 100th Career Point for Chatham Boys Lacrosse in 17-4 Win vs. Fair Lawn in State Tournament Opener

CHATHAM, NJ -- There is mutual trust between Charlie Lowe and his Chatham boys lacrosse teammates. They trust him with the ball and he counts on them to put his passes into the net.

That's why the senior who hands out more assists than any player on the team continued to give after reaching 100 career points, dishing out praise to the rest of the Cougars after their 17-4 NJSIAA North Jersey, Group 3 state tournament opening win vs. Fair Lawn on Wednesday at Cougar Field.

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"I just want to give credit to my teammates," Lowe said. "I have more assists than goals and I trust my teammates to put the ball in the goal and they do that. Credit to them, without that I wouldn't have this. It's really cool, it's something I've always dreamed of as a kid."

Lowe has tripled his assists from last season by moving to the X position and he produced two goals and four assists in the first half vs. Fair Lawn (14-6) when Chatham moved to an 11-0 lead. His goal with 2:45 left in the second quarter (see below) gave him his 100th career point.

"It's a super amazing accomplishment, especially in the division we play in, it's rare for a player to reach 100 points" J.P. Lagunowich , Chatham's high school All-American, said. "Congrats to him. He's a great player and a pleasure to play with."

J.P. Lagunowich and Charlie Lowe talk about the 100-point mark and the win

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Lowe leads Chatham (10-7) with 67 points this season on 26 goals and 41 assists, averaging nearly four points per game. His pass to Shep Boyd in the second quarter (see below) was his fourth assist of the game and staked Chatham to a 10-0 advantage.

Chatham received goals from 11 different players in the game, including a first career goal for defensive pole Lochlan Mahoney . The sophomore received a pass up the middle from goalie Henry Davenport after a save, carried it into the offensive end and connected with an overhand shot to make it 5-0 in the first period. Early in the second quarter, Mahoney showed how well he can wield the pole by coming from behind the net and scoring with an athletic play. But the referee whistled him for being in the crease on his shot and waved it off.

In addition to Lowe, the Cougars got two goals apiece from K yle Gibney, Nick Lagunowich, Ryan Grosso and Hunter Bigham . J.P. Lagunowich, Boyd, Colin Manitta , Charlie Dunn and Quinn Grosso all scored one goal.

Top-seeded Chatham will play the winner of Friday's matchup between No. 9 Princeton and No. 8 Northern Highlands in the quarterfinal round next week.

"We're feeling good," J.P. Lagunowich said. "After a win like this, we just want to keep the momentum going, win as many games as we can, finish out with a win at Cougar for our last game (North Jersey final) and the later stages. The goal is to win a state championship and we're moving in the right direction."

Chatham coach Christian Scarpello emptied his bench at the start of the second half and received two goals and an assist from sophomore Bigham in his first varsity appearance; a goal and an assist from freshman Dunn and a goal from freshman Quinn Grosso, also making his varsity debut.

"A lot of younger guys that we're bringing up from JV, honestly they looked fantastic to start the second half," Scarpello said. "I think Hunter Bigham, Charlie Dunn, Quinn Grosso and Bennett Polemeni , a lot of these guys are going to be great for us next year."

Another freshman, Ryan Hogan was credited with five ground balls on faceoffs, which posed another good sign for the Cougars.

"We're hoping that he's a guy who is going to continue to get better, just like Colton Walsh will," Scarpello said of his faceoff players. "They're young and they just need to continue to develop."

COUGAR NOTES : Sophomore defensive pole Lochlan Mahoney scored his first career goal and was credited with three ground balls in the game. He's had nine games where he's picked up a minimum of three ground balls and has 31 GBs on the season ... freshman attack Nick Lagunowich collected two goals and an assist to put him at 33 points on the season with 23 goals and 10 assists. Chatham had four freshmen on the field vs. Fair Lawn with Charlie Dunn, Ryan Hogan and Quinn Gross joining Lagunowich.

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