Last Monday, Tayoni Galante reached an impressive career milestone, logging his 100th career boys lacrosse goal.
Just a week later to the day, teammate Logan Armstrong did the same thing, reaching the century mark for goals in his Salamanca Warrior lacrosse career.
“It meant a lot,” Galante said. “It’s just a good achievement to have in your career and it was an exciting moment. And it was also nice that (Logan) got it a week later.”
For Armstrong, it came in his last regular season home game. He didn’t realize how close he was when the Warriors announced the milestone from the Veterans Memorial Park press box.
“It was pretty exciting,” he said. “I didn’t know he was going to announce it, and it felt good to get it at a home game. But it’s a big accomplishment to get it.
“I knew I was close but I didn’t know it was (going to be) that game.”
MANY MEMBERS of the Salamanca roster have played lacrosse the majority of their lives growing up in the Seneca Nation’s Allegany Territory.
For Armstrong and Galante, who’ve played together at various levels since age 5, chemistry comes naturally.
“Whenever I have the ball, I know Tay’s cutting,” Armstrong noted.
Galante added, “Whenever I make a move or something, I already know he’s going to be there.”
The chemistry goes beyond just the leading scorers.
“We’ve just been playing a lot with all these guys for a long time, so we’ve got pretty good team chemistry,” Galante said.
The two are among the most productive scorers in Western New York this season: Galante ranks fourth in Section 6 in points (91) with 44 goals and 47 assists (third in the section) and Armstrong ranks 17th in goals (43) with 17 assists.
Salamanca has played in the Section 6 Class D championship game the last three seasons: 2019, 2021 and 2022, with the 2020 season canceled, winning the title in ‘21.
THE WARRIORS earned the No. 3 seed in Section 6 Class D this year and will open the playoffs at home against No. 6 Depew in a quarterfinal. No. 1 East Aurora and No. 2 Akron have the section’s top seeds in Class D and stand in the way of Salamanca’s ultimate goal, another sectional title.
While Salamanca (8-7) entered the playoffs on a four-game losing streak, three of those games were in non-league against larger schools: Saint Francis, Niagara Wheatfield and Lake Shore/Silver Creek.
Can they right the ship now that the postseason has arrived?
“I think we’re good,” Galante said. “We’re getting our full team back. A lot of us, some of (us) are injured and all that. We’re finally getting our whole team back, and we’ve been battle-tested these last few weeks. I hope we do our best.”
Armstrong agreed the team has championship potential.
“I think if we start the games the way that we finish, I think we’d go all the way,” he said.
“We’ve just got to put it all into one game. We show spurts every game,” Galante added.
A junior, Galante said his goal is to win sectional titles in each of his last two years. For Armstrong, it’s his last shot as a senior.
“Just don’t take your time for granted, I guess,” Armstrong said of his senior year approach. “It comes quicker than you think.”
What do the Warriors need to fulfill their sectional goals?
“We’ve got to keep getting better every game,” Galante said. “We’ve got to work hard in practice. We’ve just got to have a good mentality going to the playoffs.”
(Sam Wilson, a Times Herald reporter and Salamanca Press sports editor, can be reached at swilson@oleantimesherald.com)
