SCHENECTADY — Growing up, Greyson Vorgang was a fixture at Niskayuna’s varsity lacrosse games. You remember. He was that little guy running around the sideline with a stick in hands as his dad, Mike, coached the older boys on the field.
Greyson recently became one of those boys.
“He’s been waiting for 13 years,” Mike Vorgang said. “He’s always been a part of it, but to be a member of it, that’s different.”
Greyson Vorgang and fellow eighth-graders Lucas Klowki, a midfielder, and Tristan Bach, a defenseman, were rewarded for their play on Niskayuna’s junior varsity team with promotions to the varsity just before the Section II playoffs, where the Silver Warriors have advanced to Friday’s championship game against Bethlehem.
Niskayuna’s first step there was a 22-1 quarterfinal win over Colonie. Greyson Vorgang, an attackman like his dad was at La Salle Institute in Troy, scored his first varsity goal in the fourth quarter after getting two assists in the third.
“He’s worked really hard, and for him to get into a varsity game and contribute a goal and a couple of assists to the team, I know how much it meant to him,” Mike Vorgang said. “He’s been waiting for it. To be in that uniform, he was super proud, and I was super proud of him.”
Greyson Vorgang said he felt fortunate to get playing time, and moreover, get a second chance to score a goal after passing up a shot late in the second quarter.
“About three minutes left [in the first half], we were on a fast break and I threw it inside, and nothing came of it,” Greyson Vorgang said. “[All-American] Griffin [King] told me if I get that chance again, shoot it, so the next time, I did. And I scored.”
Greyson Vorgang didn’t see the field in Niskayuna’s tight 7-3 semifinal win over Shaker, and he knows he may not play again when the Silver Warriors attempt to defend their Class A title against Bethlehem in Friday’s 6:30 p.m. final at Columbia High School.
“I’m not expecting to get in, but I’m ready to get in,” said Greyson Vorgang, who amassed over 100 points for his JV team. “I’ll be watching them and learning from them.”
The 14-year-old, whose sister Reegan is an 11th-grader on the Niskayuna varsity girls’ team, was hoping he’d get that opportunity this spring.
“Every time I asked my dad about it, he said, ‘I’m not sure.'” Greyson Vorgang said. “I know it’s because he never wants me to be satisfied. I know he wants me to keep working, so I battled the whole time. I found out he knew two weeks before he actually told me.”
Greyson Vorgang has great admiration for his dad, who built Niskayuna lacrosse from the ground up and made it into a state power, and is very much looking forward to his varsity experience under his tutelage.
“He is a mastermind of lacrosse. He’s [Bill] Belichick,” Greyson Vorgang said. “Everything he says, I take it in. Sometimes, he’s hard, but that’s okay because I know he just wants me to be the best player I can be.”
Reach Gazette Sportswriter Jim Schiltz at 518-395-3143, [email protected] or @jim_schltz on Twitter.
Categories: -Sports-, High School Sports, Saratoga County
