Kris Alvarado's bolt-quick speed and penchant for changing gears has stabilized Yorktown's go-go, souped-up attack.
He whips the ball upfield, creating a lungs-burning fast break game.
When the LIU Post-bound Alvarado breaks out on the clears and motors upfield, myriad options surface. Yorktown has employed a stout share-the-rock game in the half-field set while simultaneously busting out the track shoes in transition. Shedding bouts of inconsistency has helped during this post-season tear, during which they've outscored foes by an 80-19 margin.
The quickness, athleticism, and the multi-layered role (facilitating, scoring, dodging, shredding defenders) assumed by Alvardo makes the 5-foot-7, 165-pound senior an integral piece of this 2014 state tournament surge.
Sure, Alvarado lacks the size and hard-and-heavy bullet that his 6-foot-3 Rutgers-bound teammate, Conor Vercruysse, is known to rip from John Jay to the lacrosse hotbed of Long Island.
He's not as adept at slashing or getting into the mouth of the defense as hard-to-guard teammate, Cortland-bound Nicky Bonitatibus.
He's a smurf in comparison to draping defensemen Dan Delbene and Chris Cunnington, 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3 respectively.
Yet that's what makes Alvarado such a crucial piece to Yorktown's deep and veteran-laden puzzle.
Dave Marr's position-to-position power is solely based on the differing roles each player subscribes to. This provides balance. This has helped augment the depth, the overwhelming factor in games against John Jay and Byram Hills.
Alvarado posted a hat trick during Yorktown's 17-5 throttling of Section 2 champ Albany Academy.
The Huskers (16-5), which have talked all season long about embodying the brotherhood and accountability levels which etched the 2003 state championship Yorktown team's imitable legacy, face Lynbrook at Hofstra University on Wednesday.
We caught up with Alvarado, a dual-sport athlete who played in the Section 1 Exceptional Seniors game in football, in this week's Uno En Uno
Alvarado On The Execution
Against Albany Academy, we came out fired up (en route to a 6-0 first quarter lead) and focused, we're taking it game by game. The key to the offense was just to find the the open man and finish. We just keep the ball moving and play open man lacrosse. Everyone has been finishing their shots when we get them.
On Facing 19-1 Long Island Power Lynbrook
We are not going to change much. We are going to keep playing our game as we know it, and hopefully keep on rolling. We go into this game knowing we are as talented as any other team in the state and all of the hype doesn't get to us at all. We just go out and play hard and hopefully find ourselves on the winning side of the scoreboard.
On LIU Post's wild, Cinderella Ride To The Division-II National Title Game
I have been following them all year. I was pumped when they made it to the national championship.
On Winning At SUNY-Albany, where they lost a season-ending heartbreaker to Nisky last season
Winning at Albany was definitely a great feeling, but that place just gives me a bad feeling in my stomach. Our main goal is to win that New York State title.