All in the family: Goalie tradition continues for Mahwah boys lacrosse by Sean Farrell of The Record
MAHWAH – Ryan Humphreys won’t take sides.
Keeping peace at the dinner table is too important for the Mahwah coach.
Some have called Liam Granquist the highest-upside lacrosse player from his family’s quartet of brothers. An impressive debut for the sophomore goalie won’t do much to change that. Granquist made 11 saves in his first start, pushing Mahwah past Pascack Valley in a 6-5 win on Wednesday. Watching a pair of older siblings – Brendan and Aidan – and backing up the latter clearly prepared him to take over their role in net for the Thunderbirds. But it wasn’t enough to get his head coach to pick favorites.
“I don’t want to be the topic of discussion at the dinner table at the Granquist home,” Humphreys said. “If Brendan or Aidan were here, I’d probably back each of them up privately. They’re all tremendous. They all made my life very, very easy here.”
For a long time now, Mahwah has been predicated on defense. The Thunderbirds were in the top quarter of New Jersey in goals allowed per game in each of the last three seasons. One family can take a lot of responsibility for that. Brendan and Aidan Granquist were the last two starting goalies for Mahwah. The oldest brother Patrick played defense. So Liam Granquist has followed the program for years, first watching them at the 2010 county championship win over Bergen Catholic.
“It was pretty much goalie or nothing they’ve told me,” Granquist said. “I didn’t have much of an option. We’re big so we take up a lot of the net so that helps. And all three of us [goalies] have really good footwork.”
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Granquist had to be sharp in a sloppy season-opener.
The long winter kept the Thunderbirds off the field for much of March and limited their chance to practice long passes and spacing in a game-like scenario. The rust showed on Wednesday as Mahwah gave up the first goal and failed to score in the first five minutes.
Eventually, the Thunderbirds got their spark from another bright underclassman.
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Freshman Jack Kastens scored twice, one off a clever dodge that gave his team the lead in the fourth quarter. Sam Mintz chipped in another two goals, while Michael Costantino and Aidan Kelly had one apiece. It was the second straight year that the Thunderbirds began the season by beating Pascack Valley, a league opponent also in The Record rankings.
‘It was a big start to the season,” Kastens said. “We really wanted that and we knew that it was an important game because they are a good team and will be in the county and states with us so we had to go out strong.”
The last Thunderbird goal came with 4:14 left. Mintz bounced in a shot to stretch the lead to 6-4, and then the well-schooled Mahwah defense got to work. Pascack Valley responded with a last-minute goal and even had three chances to force overtime. Granquist stopped a shot with about 25 seconds left and saw one sail wide moments later. When play resumed with 8.0 seconds left, the Indians never got a shot off.
“I was excited that it was my time,” Granquist said.
“[Brendan and Aidan] both texted me saying just to be confident out there and have fun with it. It’s all right if you’re a little nervous. Once the game starts, you’ll be good.”