We talked earlier this week in this space about how the days of dominant teams rolling through the competition in high school lacrosse is a thing of the past.
Almost as if to make sure we were paying attention came this result from yesterday.
Walt Whitman 11, Ward Melville 10.
Yes, Ward Melville as in ranked fifth in the nation. As in the only team to beat West Islip last season.
Who’s next?
It could be almost anyone.
Or not.
Actually, although it’s early in the season, almost everyone already has a loss, including all the national ranked powers from the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region.
St. Anthony’s. Check.
Chaminade. Check.
Garden City. Check.
John Jay. Check.
Bottom line. If you’re in the prediction business, be ready for a roller-coast ride.
Case in point. Somers and John Jay.
Last night, John Jay built a comfortable lead and held on for a 9-7 win against the Tuskers. (You can check scoring updates on the game by clicking here.)
It was the first meeting between the teams since Somers beat John Jay 14-9 to end John Jays run of four straight sectional titles in last year’s Class B final in White Plains.
Two areas where Somers may have had an edge on paper going in — goaltending and faceoffs — proved to be a wash. And, the Indians held Somers’ leading offensive weapons, Colgate-bound Erik Pfiffner and Army-bound Greg Petre, scoreless
John Jay also was penalized just twice. Somers was called for six penalties, with the Indians capitalizing on three of those extra-man opportunities.
So what does it all mean? That the teams’ regular-season rematch, on May 4 at Somers, is a tossup.
Not to mention a possible — or even likely — third meeting in the sectional playoffs.
In a nutshell, in this new age of parity, things are as uncertain as ever.
As for today’s schedule, it’s a light one, but here’s how it looks.
The marquee matchup de jour features a 6:30 p.m. game between tradition-rich Wilton of Connecticut and defending CHSAA champ St. Anthony’s at 6:30 p.m. at St. Anthony’s in South Huntington.
Irvington, coming off a breakout season under first-year coach Drew Werney last year, faces a White Plains team that picked up wins last season over Mahopac, Putna Valley and North Rockland at 4:30 p.m. at Irvington.
Also at 4:30 p.m. in the Hudson Valley, Eastchester visits Edgemont, Bronxville hosts Mamaroneck and Harrison is at Ardsley. In 4:30 p.m. action, Nanuet hosts Clarkstown South and Albertus Magnus is at Clarkstown North.
In Suffolk, Happaugue hosts Comsewogue at 7 p.m. East Hampton visits Center Moriches at 6:30 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., Shoreham-Wading River plays at Eastport/South Manor, Rocky Point is at Half Hollows West and Babylon visits Southampton. At 4 p.m., Mount Sinai visits Westhampton.
In Nassau, Manhasset hosts Clarke at 4:45 p.m. Defending Class A county champ Hicksville visits East Meadow at 4:15 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., Baldwin plays at Massapequa, Oceanside visits Freeport, South Side hosts Roslyn and Uniondale is at Herricks.
Unbeaten Weston visits Bunnell at 4 p.m. on Bunnell’s turf field in Connecticut action.
As always, be sure to post your thoughts on these matchups as well as any info on the scores and game details.
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Joe, Shoreham plays at Eastport-South Manor tomorrow…Comsewogue is at Hauppauge.
These two games are the most interesting of the year in Suffolk B. I think they’ll both be two goal or less games…Shoreham 9-7, Wogue 10-9.
Major team missing from your check-list joe:
Manhasset.
still to play chaminade, garden city and darien. i can see them winning all three of those games honestly. they may not, but if they do, best team in america is the indians. their smallest margin of victory was 5 @ South Side. They’ve ruined everyone else they played, including JJ.
Europe 72 –
Just to clarify. It wasn’t a check list of top teams overall. It was just checking off nationally ranked teams who have already suffered a loss at this early point in the season.
I agree with your point about parity, but can we all agree that national rankings are useless for NY/ NJ / CT teams, given how young the season is? JJ wasn’t #7, WM isn’t #5, St. A’s wasn’t #2. They are just useless reference points.
I’ll go with St. Anthony’s 13-5 over Wilton
Not liking Yorktown’s chances vs. GC tomorrow one iota.
Europe 72,
Sett looks to have reloaded, JJ not as strong as rankings at the time would have you believe, Sett’s schedule will let us all know where they stand in a few weeks but I have to think that the other telling info though only a scrimmage was the LA12 on the island when they looked the much better team against WM with all starters in. I know only a scrimmage but!. I’ll jump on the bandwagon early and have Sett 8-6 winners over Lafayette.
Doid23
Agree. “National” rankings, where teams dont play one another or maybe just once ,and where there is no way to measure the weekly level of competition from different parts of the country are totally useless in any type of serious way.
Cuse,
Rooting for Town but have to agree with you.
Manhasset’s success this season is just a credit to Bill Cherry and his staff. You lose a guy like English and you expect a significant drop-off. Well, not in the world of Manhasset lacrosse. I don’t think enough can be said about just how good and important Drew Belinsky is to that team. The kid simply does it all at both ends of the field. UPenn is getting a gift from the lax gods. Great kid, too.
Hey guys, a couple of updates: Arlington, the newest team to get some nice buzz on LaxLessons, is playing Nyack tonight and I should be getting updates for all of you that I will post. As for Yorktown-GC, I’ve been told efforts are being made to get updates provided on site to my phone. Too bad the game is so far away. Should be interesting, though I think GC’s defense will tell the tale.
Only thing I can say about Town-GC is unlike against Ward Melville, which is just a terrible matchup for Yorktown no matter when and where the game is played, the Huskers have had a lot of success against the Trojans historically, going I believe 5-2 all time. Then again, they haven’t met in ages so past results mean little. Yorktown attackmen not named Interlicchio need to step up so No. 22 can get some space to do some things. Garden City was exceptional last season defensively and appears to be even better this year. I can see this one being a lot like the Melville game last week. That is, unless Yorktown gets its transition game going.
The matchup with GC is very similar to that against WM…the Huskers are not going to be able to count on KI to initiate their offense with Jahelka on him, in fact they shouldn’t count on their attack doing much of anything. GC doesn’t scare many people on the offensive end, but they’ll score enough to beat Yorktown, 8-4.
Don’t be shocked if Yorktown-Garden City is a 4-3 or 5-4-type game.
Garden City (4-1) has allowed less than 4 goals per game against good competition, including Syosset, Smithtown West, South Side and traditional MIAA power St. Paul’s. The Trojans’ probelm, though, is they are averaging only 7-plus goals per game.
Yorktown (2-2) should have beaten John Jay having coughed up a 5-1 lead. Considering all the Huskers lost on defense, which was basically everyone including their goalie, they’ve played fairly well in their own end. But offensively, something is definitely up. Their middies are good, but not deep. Interlicchio is drawing a ton of attention but the other attackman have yet to step up.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if this game ended 1-0 either way. Wouldn’t that be something? All seriousness, I see GC winning by 2 or 3.
I disagree completely, the level that these teams play at the offense for both teams will have to play very poorly and the fact that neither team has an amazing defense there is no way that the score will be that low.
Garden City in a landslide…
Arlington plays tomorrow night @7……not tonight
Here’s the lineup of games at the 2nd Annual Nike Checking For Cancer Tournament at The Haverford School in Pa. (outside Philly) tomorrow:
10 a.m.
Haverford School (Pa.) vs. Chatham (NJ), Stadium field
Radnor (Pa.) vs. Hatboro-Horsham (Pa.), Class of 75 field
12 p.m.
Georgetown Prep (Md.) vs. La Salle College High (Pa.), Stadium field
Yorktown vs. Garden City, Class of ’75 field
2 p.m.
Conestoga (Pa.) vs. Darien, Stadium field
Delbarton (NJ) vs. Fairfield Prep, Class of 75 field
Garden City doesn’t have an amazing defense? Hmmm….it’s only in the top three on Long Island, I would call that pretty good.
Ballerstatus,
What’s a landslide in your opinion? GC wins by 10? If so, I’d think again. Yorktown will be in this game for 48 minutes. They’ve been playing opponents like GC for 40 years. Are they better this year? Probably not. But to think GC, a team that doesn’t score anywhere near enough to be considering a landslide favorite vs. any good program, will blow Yorktown out is just a really bold statement that the Trojans don’t appear to be good enough offensively to uphold. Yorktown’s defense is better than given credit for. I think a 2-4 goal spread in GC’s favor is fair.
8-3 GC
GC 9, Town 5
Syracuse,
Wow, you surprise me. Town should have beaten JJ because they let a 5-1 lead slip away? 4 goals isn’t that big of a lead, unless it’s in the 4th Quarter.
I love the fact that Town is playing GC, and that whole event looks fantastic. But I agree with the rest of your post, GC seems to have a lockdown D, and Remy Leiberman needs to step up, and KI needs to go off, for Town to have a chance. I still think GC by 3
Fischer and Jahelka basically shut down Keenan and Pannell from Smithtown West…Pannell scored once on an inversion and Keenan once on an inside roll in the first minute of the game. I know KI gets a lot of hype, but these guys (especially Keenan at this point, because he is a year older) are nearly as good if not just as good as KI. Yorktown can get scoring from other places, and they’ll be in the game all 48 minutes, but I doubt KI/Lieberman will score more than 2.5 goals combined.
Doid23,
If you had been there you would have agreed that Town was in control up 5-1. I’ve said Jay deserves a ton of credit for locking things down defensively and getting their transition game going in the second half. You just don’t expect Yorktown to blow a 4-goal halftime lead is what I’m trying to say. Not taking anything away from Jay’s win, but I think Town let one slip away there.
Yorktown needs to find some offense..KI won’t be able to create anything..especially against Jahelka..and neither will Leiberman.
GC wins 10-2
Town needs to get their attack to step up, but as far as their middies go they are very strong with Mabus, Shuldt and McClee. I dont see Town’s attack doing anything, and i’ll give their middies a couple…
GC 7 Town 3
So, Syracuse, you can be surprised that Yorktown lost to john jay.. but you can not say they “should have” one. No one “should” win.. it’s the final score that counts.
Sorry laxing. Considering what Yorktown has always been, up 5-1 against anyone in Section 1, yes, they should have won the game. You take it as a slight against Jay, and it’s not. Any team that’s any good or thinks its any good should expect to win a game it leads by 4.
McLee hat trick KI and Lieberman no more than 2.5. GC 8 Town 6.
I was at the JJ Yorktown game and JJ was playing poorly, no doubt. Yorktown’s failure to tack on goals when they had JJ down led to the comeback…absolutely. Yorktown got lazy and sloppy on offense and it cost them.
KI looks very big this year and kinda slow like A-Rod two years ago. The Jay D and middies had no problem keeping up with him for the most part and KI had nobody to throw the ball to because his team mates were standing around like statues.
John Jay did what any good team would do and capitalized on the turnovers and lack of creativity on the Yorktown offense.
Plus, John Jay’s transition game scored two goals which was big.
…definitely a “Tale of Two Halves”…
Shoreham wins 9-8 over ESM
Shuldt will be on Attack with Remy and KI, Porcelli, Mabus and McLee are the Middies.
Saw on Newsday St. A’s 14 Wilton 5 final
Wogue 8-6 over Hauppauge…the traditional powers on top for now in Suffolk B, but not by much
props to coach Larrry Petricione…laying off in Eastchester vs. Edgemont game. The Eagles dominated, Cirillo, Massi, on the goals, Gendusa on the faceoffs..players pulled in the the second half.
final EAstchester 13- 5 over Edgemont,
Tomorrow EAstchester is raising money for Autism Speaks…game time 7pm at HandlField vs. Sleppy Hollow…should be an excellent game.
bronxville score?
Nanuet 7, Clarkstown South 5 … Greg Mooney 1, 3
Clarkstown North 8, Albertus Magnus 7 … Kevin Reilly 5, 2
Pearl River 5, Irvington 4
WI 11, Ridgewood 5
Bronxville 13
Mamaroneck 3
KI is more than big, he looks hefty but Town could easily win this game. GC was exposed in the SouthSide game. If you are supposed to be as good as they were you must be able to score more than 3 goals in almost 5 full quarters vs SS
Keep in mind that Devin Dwyer was injured and did not play against South Side. That being said, GC’s offense isn’t going to blow anyone that’s half decent away. That is why Yorktown has a chance…it is just not a very good one.
What time is Town-GC?
Scroll up to comment 17 – joe lists all the times.
lots of politically correct comment about KI and his playing weight….
Where’s the MAMO supporters tonight? Can’t hear you? thought this team was special……
Congrats East Hampton! Way to get it done!!