The Chaminade Flyers captured the Catholic High School Athletic Association State championship with a 6-0 win over the Canisius Prep Crusaders on Sunday afternoon at St. John’s University.
Matt Vowinkel led Chaminade with a hat trick and two assists as they captured their second consecutive CHSAA title and sixth overall.
A.J. Codispoti recorded a goal and three assists for Chaminade.
Goalkeepers Yanni Rigos and Patrick Iorio combined for six saves to earn the shutout.
Head coach Michael Gallagher said it felt great to win back to back titles and was glad for the seniors who had the opportunity to hoist another one.
“The biggest expectation is that you have juniors who did well last year and won a state title” Gallagher said. “Once they became seniors, their expectation to get better and win a state title again was always in the back of their minds. I was happy they did it.”
Chaminade got off to a hot start by scoring a pair of goals 10 minutes into the game. A goal by Tim Davis and Vowinkel one minute apart put Chaminade up 2-0.
Eight minutes later, Codispoti increased Chaminade’s lead to three off an assist from Vowinkel.
Jack Graziano gave Chaminade a 4-0 lead to round out the scoring in the first half.
Gallagher described Graziano’s goal in which he rocketed a shot from 18 yards out into the upper left corner of the net, as one for the highlight reel.
Vowinkel struck for two more goals early in the second half to complete the hat trick.
Gallagher said Chaminade quickly found holes in the Canisius that they failed to correct as the game went on.
“They didn’t change what they were doing and it created gaps and we were able to exploit it,” Gallagher said. “We played well because we were able to play well. They played very hard but it was one of those days that we were on our game.”
Two days earlier, Chaminade defeated Fordham Prep 2-1 in the CHSAA state semifinals with an overtime goal by Tim Davis after Fordham had tied the game with less than a minute left in play.
Vowinkel had scored a goal 90 seconds into the game but Fordham tied it with a minute and four seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Halfway through the overtime, Jack Nuttall took a corner kick that came to Alex Brutschin, who headed the ball to Tim Davis, who knocked in the game winner.
