The Wall boys lacrosse team got off to a good start in the state tournament.
Senior attacker and Monmouth-bound Michael McIntyre tallied six goals with three assists and senior attacker Timothy O’Hern added four goals with three assists to power third-seeded Wall to a 17-4 victory over 14th-seeded Lower Cape May in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey, Group 2 tournament last Wednesday in Wall.
Wall (13-4), which has won three of its last four and six of its last eight games, advanced to last Saturday’s quarterfinals and hosted sixth-seeded Cranford. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinals and will face the winner between 10th-seeded Lacey and second-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven, No. 8 in the latest NJ.com Top 20 rankings.
Senior midfielder/attacker and Moravianbound Kyle Peters posted two goals with two assists, senior midfielder/attacker Jack Textor had two goals with one assist and Stevens-bound senior midfielder William Forte and senior midfielder Connor Prindiville each chipped in a score for Wall, which led, 10-0, at halftime after a seven-goal second quarter. 
“The kids played great. We started off slow after eight days off since our Shore Conference Tournament exit, but we picked it up in the second quarter and never looked back,” said Wall head coach Chris Knight, who is in his 13th season at the helm. “We are pretty happy with the season we've had thus far, but we have a lot more that we want to accomplish. We put together the toughest schedule we've had to date, so the level of competition compared to previous years has been challenging. Our senior class has been phenomenal and has led the lower classmen throughout the season, and we are so proud of the way our kids stood up to the challenge.”
McIntyre is the heart and soul of the program and oh yeah, the all-time leading goal scorer in school history with over 200. This season, McIntyre has 62 goals and 30 assists for 92 points.
Next up – Cranford (11-6) – which has won three straight and six of its last nine games. In its last three games, Cranford has outscored its opponents, 34-9.
“We think it's a great matchup top to bottom. They have strong midfielders and good attackmen that we are confident will match well with our midfield and defensive core. They play a similar style to us, so it will likely look like Wall playing Wall out there,” said Knight. “Overall we anticipate a very competitive game that will come down to the wire. A win will propel us to our first-ever NJSIAA sectional semifinal, so we've been using that as motivation all week in practice and it is a big opportunity for us to make program history."
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