What better way to usher in what promises to be an eventful month of May on the lax scene than with a special day that includes three of the most tradition-rich rivalries not only in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, but in the nation as well?
Welcome to Super Saturday, gang.
Headlining today’s festivities are three Rivalry Weekend games we’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about.
While we’ve discussed the players, the matchups, the momentum and oh so much more, here’s an overview of the history, along with the times and sites of today’s games:
* Woodstick Classic: Manhasset (10-0) at Garden City (7-2), 2 p.m.: The 119th edition of the nation’s longest public school rivalry, a series that dates back to 1935. Prior to last year’s 8-2 Manhasset win, Garden City had dominated for quite a stretch, having won 11 of 12 meetings entering last year’s game. Manhasset leads the all-time series 65-52.
* New Canaan (5-2) at Darien (7-2), 3 p.m.: This Connecticut tradition has been dominated by Darien of late. The Blue Wave have won four straight in the series.
* Murphy Cup: Yorktown (7-3) at Lakeland/Panas (9-3), 4 p.m. at Lakeland High School: In 1990, this annual event was named in honor of Charlie Murphy, the co-founder of Yorktown’s program, when current Yorktown coach Dave Marr was a Husker sophomore. The Huskers won the first game 7-6 in 1990. In 1997, Lakeland/Panas fell 6-5 in the Murphy Cup but came back to beat Yorktown 7-4 in the Section 1 Class A final that season, with current Lakeland/Panas coach Jim Lindsay scoring four goals. Yorktown leads the all-time Murphy Cup series 18-2, with the Rebels’ wins coming in 1994 and 2007.
But that’s not all.
John Jay, which is No. 13 in the latest Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse National Rankings, visits Syosset.
The Braves are 4-5, but losses have come against Garden City, Hicksville, Cold Spring Harbor, Farmingdale and Massepequa. Syosset also has a win to its credit against a Sachem North team that defeated the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, West Islip. Game-time is 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Field of Dreams in Syosset.
If John Jay wins, it would be just the second time the Indians have ever won a game on Long Island in program history. (The other time was a double overtime win against Huntington, then the top-ranked team in the nation, in the 2007 Class B state semifinals, leading to John Jay’s lone state final appearance.)
In other games today in the Hudson Valley, Arlington hopes to bounce back from its first loss (9-3 vs. Yorktown) with a 1 p.m. game at Coppiague (2-9). In the Battle of Rye, Rye hosts Rye Country Day at 4 p.m. White Plains faces a big test when it plays New Jersey power Kinnelon at 4 p.m. at Kinnelon (8-2). Red-hot Fox Lane visits Westlake, North Rockland hosts Mamaroneck and Harrison visits Briarcliff at 3 p.m., Clarkstown South hosts Pleasantville at 6:30 p.m., Nyack hosts Pine Bush and Croton visits Ossining at 7 p.m.
Elsewhere today in Connecticut, Wilton hosts Westhill at 3 p.m. at Fujitani Field. Danbury visits St. Joseph-Trumbull at 4 p.m. Ridgefield, which has won seven straight, visits Fairfield Ludlowe in a 6 p.m. game at Taft Field. In the Battle of Norwalk, Brien McMahon hosts Norwalk at 7:15 p.m.
In Suffolk, Ward Melville faces Northport in a 4 p.m. game at Stony Brook University. Smithtown East hosts Sachem East at 2 p.m. Rivals Half Hollow Hills East and Half Hollow Hills West meet at 4 p.m. at HHH West.
Elsewhere in Nassau, West Hempstead and Island Trees meet in a 6:30 p.m. game at Seaford High School. Holy Trinity plays at Calhoun at 2 p.m. Great Neck South plays Mineola in a 5 p.m. game at Hampton Stadium. North Shore hosts Mac Arthur at 3 p.m.
In the CHSAA, Iona Prep hosts St. John the Baptist at 1 p.m. At 4 p.m., Fordham Prep meets Monsignor Farrell and Stepinac and Xaverian square off.
Be sure to post your thoughts and predictions on these matchups, and while you’re at your game or games today, be sure to check in here with info on the scores and game details throughout the course of the day and night.
MSG Varsity coverage
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* Lombardi on Lacrosse: Rivalry Weekend Preview from 4/29 “Sports Desk”
* Inside the Woodstick Classic Manhasset/Garden City rivalry
* Lombardi: Murphy Cup has special meaning
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Yes, the original. Yours Truly. Godfather of The Crop is here with the prediction. The blast from the past (’09) is here for a few words of wisdom.
Murph cup time, take out all records prior to the game or stats leading up to the game and throw them out the window. This gets as gritty as Wahlberg in Four Brothers. I cant say i know everything about the Lakeland squad. But after watching Yorktown in 2 recent games ill say they look a lot better than i thought they would and better than what they looked like in their first game. All i know is KI steps it up in big time games on TV. The D is playing good and the O is deeper than anyone expected. 11-7 5 for Kev
One heck of a weekend (Jay seems a little to high in the national rankings but)I really wanna see how Jay bounces back and plays ON Long Island after their past beat-down at Manhasset and the long history of losing on the island. Syosset isn’t as good as Manhasset but still a big time Long Island program which would be a tremendous tremendous for Jay.
Jay-10 Syosset-8 (Jay finally beats a team on the island)
Town-15 L/P-6 (Yorktown depth+ Koelsch to much)
Darien-11 NC-7
Manhasset-13 Garden City-12 (OT)
I’d love to here comments/reactions by anyone.
11-7 yorktown, in case anybody didn’t figure that out.
And now on second thought, 12-7 yorktown.
What a day for great matchups. I’m headed to the the Murphy Cup this afternoon, cant wait to see these two battle. Taking the kids to see this one….make the trip….this game is always worth it.
Rye/Rye Country Day at Rye High (4 PM)
Good luck to everyone today!!
My wingman on the blogs is back and that has just impulsed me to make a comment. Four Brothers is a classic and this game won’t disappoint.
I had already put my prediction on the Friday night blog and for a brief rundown here it goes:
Yorktown 12 L/P 7
KI 4 and 3, McLee 1 and 2, Mariano 2, Lieberman 2, Schuldt 2, Mabus 1 and 3, Porcelli 0 and 2
Koelsh will be the difference in this game, especially in the beginning…What a great day for such a great game!
town and l/p are favorated to be in the section 1 class A final. But, people tend to not give pac enough credit, and i see them knocking out panas, and in a rematch with town, giving them a run for their money.
Pacs’ offense is the real deal. I have seen people saying that all they have is brandofino, and that is false. In the last 2 games against white plains, and brewster, he was face gaurded the entire game, and pac still put up a total of 25 goals between the 2 games. Against somers, 6 different indians had goals.
At the face off x, thompson has been phenominal. He is one of the better players ive seen at boxing out to get the groundball, or to stop a fast break.
Goalie play has been outstanding in the form of John McGuigin. he had 25 saves against white plains, with a lot of those saves being from doorstep shots. McGuigin picked up the slack from the defense, and is the major reason for Mahopac’s sucess this year.
With that being said, this brings us to the indians achilles heal, their defense. The d rarly shows up to play, which is a major factor. They are not very physical, which they need to be in order to be good. The d is full of athletes, like Vinnie perillo, and taylor hamilton, and have tons of potential to be a solid defense. Not to mention, the indians have one of the best defensive coaches you can find, Coach corace. If anyone can fix this defense, he can.
The pac has a week off before facing a strong arlington team, and guilderland. I can gaurentee that the coaching staff will fix the question of “what defense” and the indians will be a major threat come playoff time.
Town 11 LP 9 (but town dominates possesion)
JJ 12 Syosett 8
Sett 10 GC 7
Darien 9 NC 5
What a great day for Lax.
Is arlington playing on the island today?
GC 6 Set 5, 2OT
Darien 9, New Canaan 4
Yorktown 10, Lakeland 7
Set 8 GC 6
Darien 10 NC 5
Ytown 12 L/p 6
JJ 8 Syosset 7
can we get an update on the manhasset-garden city game?
4-4 8 left in the 3rd
4-4 after 3
Wow I love thhese game today. I remember playing in a few myself back in the day. If Town stays focused and can win a few faceoffs and control the ball I think they will pull out a close one againsy LP 9-7 if not don’t be surprised if L/P wims by two or three. In other acrion I like GC overSett 7-6 JJ ove SYOS in a low scorring game 6-5 Darien by two . It’s a beautiful day for LAX Strap on your helmets boys it’s gointg to be a great Afternoon. Let’s go TOWNNNN
4-4 9 minutes left
6-4 GC 7:30 left
6-6 1 minute left
Set wins 7-6, Belinsky scores the winner with 10 seconds left
3 1 Nc after 1
Go hornets (retro)
Yorktown leads 4-3 midway through the second quarter. Interlicchio has two goals for Yorktown. Mabus and Liberman have also scored. Fallo, Honovich and Prunty have the Rebels’ goals.
4 3 darien at the half. jj keeping nc in the game.
LP ties it at 5-5 midway through the second on Fazio’s second goal.
Hornets, panthers, rebels….whatever. Go!!!
Anyone know if the TOWN L/P game will be on T.V. (Varsity Central) game of trhe week?
Murph Cup is tied 5-5 at halftime.
7 3 darien early 4th
Does anyone if if the TOWN/ L/P will be on T.V. this week. Perhaps MSG varsity Central?.
Monteferante’s second gives LP a 6-5 lead early in the third.
Prunty scores his second and LP’s fourth straight off a Honovich feed. LP leads 7-5.
Will there be anyone on this board giving updates from the JJ/Syosset game….not going to make that one. Please update if you can!
thanks
Monteferante on FOs a big factor. Honovich gets his second off a FO win. LP now leads 9-5 with four minutes left in third.
I played both Ytown and LP Lakeland will win this game by 3
11 5 darien final
LP has dominated possession. Rebels lead 10-5 to start the fourth. Prunty has three goals. Fazio has been on Interlicchio, who’s been held scoreless in the third after having three EMO goals in the first half. Belger coming up big in goal.
You can catch the Murphy Cup on Tuesday night at 8 pm in the Hudson Valley/Connecticut region on MSG Varsity Channel 14 (Optimum). (It will also air throughout the week in Hudson Valley/Connecticut as well as Long Island at other days and times. Check your listings.)
Briarcliff over Harrison 9-3 (final).
LP leads 10-6 with five minutes left in regulation. Yorktown’s latest goal was Interlicchio’s fourth EMO goal.
LP closing in on its third Murphy Cup win in 21 years. It’s 10-6. With two minutes to go. Fans are making their way to the exits.
Final: 10-7
Wow! Way to go LP. Can’t wait to see this one on MSG V.
Congrats to Lakeland/Panas on a huge win!
Rye 13- Rye Country Day 6
Hey congrats to LP on the win. Sounds like a great game!
Now go Jay. WIP Syossett!!!
Coach Lindsay does not get enough credit…great win for L/P…my Bears maybe getting a streak going here too…
First let me get this out of the way: Chris Bocklet had 6 goals and 3 assists for Virginia today. Chris Daniello will also be playing in 15 minutes, who leads Syracuse in both goals and assists. JJ grads reppin leading the top 2 teams in the country in points.
Congratulations to L/P! Just shows you anything can happen in the Murphy Cup. I’m rooting for my JJ boys against Syosset but it’s going to be tough. Syosset is 4-5 but if you look at their record they only lost to undefeated Cold Spring Harbor by 1 goal and their other 4 losses have been to tough teams. They also beat Sachem North, the lone victor over West Islip. I think they’re better than they were last year, but so is JJ who beat them in overtime last year. It’s going to be close.
Thanks slacrosse,
Very impressive score in today’s win over RCD. Rye is on the up.
FWIW
On the subject of Jay Alum scoring today
Brian Douglass had three for Yale against Harvard and leads them with 32 goals
Kevin Stockel had 2G and an assist for Drexel against UMass
Indian J,
Thanx. Good effort by RCD.
For the first time this season Rye was able to pull its goalie and give some of the less used players some playing time.
This was probably Rye’s best FULL game effort of the season ON BOTH O AND D. This type of play will win some more games for them and be a factor in the playoffs.
NOW LETS HAVE JAY WUP SYOSSETT!!
Anybody know anything about the JJ/Syosset game?
Jay score??????
Just got a text
John Jay up 5-3 at the half
Guys!!!!!
Jay score?????????????????
It’s now John Jay leading 6-3 in the third quarter.
Make it 7-3 on a fastbreak goal from Will O’Donnell to Tom Beck.
Will John Jay be getting its second-ever win on Long Island tonight?
Stay tuned.
Thx–keep it coming–GO JAY
Evan Chen scores unassisted to make it 8-3 JJ.
We’ll see if this holds up, but I was expecting a closer game given Syosset’s win over Sachem North (which beat West Islip), strength of schedule and the fact Syosset is playing at home under the lights. Nice effort for John Jay so far.
joe look at syosset record bad team. jj beat them last year with all 10th graders
It’s now 9-3 with time winding down in the third as Forrest Walter scores off a feed from Mike Daniello.
Arlington picked up a 9-8 double overtime win at Copiague in a very big game for Arlington as far as sectional seedings. RIght now, Arlington would likely be the No. 1 seed in Class A under the new seedings system.
Other games besides Woodstick… Not sure if LI Lax posted these but just got home and haven’t read through all the comments.
Ward Melville 15, Northport 3
Smithtown East 15, Sachem East 5
HHH East 4, HHH East 2
Holy Trinity 9, Calhoun 4
Iona Prep 5, SJTB 4
Nice job so far JJ! Syosset is definitely not a bad team. They’re not elite like they were two years ago when they made it to the NYS finals in class A, but they’re still very good. Look at their strength of schedule and you’ll see all their losses have been to tough teams like Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor and like Joe said they beat Sachem North which is very impressive.
John Jay leads 10-4 in the fourth quarter.
Westminster 9, Brunswick 8 OT
that most recent posted John Jay score of 10-4…….was that the final score ?
In the Westtminster win over Brunswick, Rye High graduate and PG Robert Keough (Notre Dame) had a great game holding Bwicks’s top scorer to 1 g including a great ball strip from him in the 4th qtr.
Another Rye graduate and PG, Robert Santangelo (Union) had 1g 2 a in the win.
Final: John Jay 12, Syosset 8
The Indians beat the 2008 Class A state finalists for just their second-ever win on Long Island.
John Jay won over Syosset 12-8
Hornets number 1
Congrats to Jay!! Really good win out on LI for the reasons stated by LAXman above.
Copiague is basically on a par with Sleepy Hollow and Ardsley, but the win was on the road and that is meaningful to Arlington. Good job by them. They should have won that game if they want kudos and they came through.
Their SOS is still very weak and their RPI is also suspect, but with L/P and JJ on the horizon they will get those up to respectability whether they win or lose.
Does any one have the Fairfield Ludlowe vs Ridgefield score? If Ludlowe wins, that means Mamaroneck beats Ridgefield.
Ridgefield beat Ludlowe 16 – 7
Wow didn’t think of it like that. That would be a huge win for the Mamaroneck program. They must be on the rise!
Ridgefield 16 Ludlowe7
Wow, and if Mamaroneck beats Ridgefield, and Ridgefield only lost to Staples by one, that means Mamaroneck ended Staples undefeated season. Great night to be a tigers fan!
Reality check:
Has anyone seen Mamaroneck play? They have a few good players, but are far from being an elite team in Class B and section 1.
Anyone have the NR v. Mamaroneck score today?
It was 9-4 Mamk, but they dominated the whole game, while playing poorly.
And they’re in class a. So theres a realty check for you. And what numbers did you think were good?
After reading this geniuses reasoning (no sarcasm) I want to congratulate the Bronxville mens lacrosse team on a hard fought win against Ridgefield.
Just saw the score…4-3 at half doesn’t look like total domination, but I wasn’t there…Mamaroneck, along with White Plains and B’Ville all play in a very weak league…can’t judge those teams by their good records…particularly Mam. who lost to B’VIlle by ten…
Based on that score, I’d like to take the time to congratulate the Bronxville lacrosse team on a hard fought win against Ridgefield. They deserve it, they fought hard all day. Play like this more in the future!
They are in A…my mistake…they had two decent attackmen and one decent defender…they can handle the weak teams in their league, but will have trouble and have, against the better teams.
And on that note, congrats to Bronxville for a great win over Ridgefield
Congrats to L/P . Hard fought 10-7 win today. Balanced scoring, solid D and co-MVP’s Goalie Rob Belger and Chris Monteferante.
Prunt 3
Fallo 2
Honovich 2
Caffrey 2
Monteferante 1
What game did you watch them play? Was the D man a long pole or LSM? WHo;d you think was better at attack, Conley or Leibert?
thats at SWLAX btw
Monteferante real impressive in that he takes ALL faceoffs. Ytown tried 4 guys … I think they won 1 faceoff all day. Not sure how Town beat Chaminade w/hout winning many faceoffs but sooner or later vs good teams your gonna get burned. They are gonna be in trouble down the line bc of this.
don’t know names…14, 12 and 26 were their players
Looks like Darien remains the solid #1 in Westchester/Connecticut. For that to change, the Yorktown team that beat Chaminade will have to come to play next Friday night, not the one who played earlier today.
When did you see them play?
SWLAX YOU’LL BITE YOUR TONGUE I TELL YOU! YOU’LL SEE WHEN MAMARONECK KNOCKS OFF THE “POWER TEAMS”
who gaurded KI? was it the small guy? who was he on?
Was there a power outage in the Yorktown area tonight??? Blog seems light on Yorktown fans, and their much anticipated “comments”… Big block party that we didn’t get invited to? What gives? 🙂
Congrats to Jay! Great job guys you deserve it.
Mamaroneck didnt dominate at all,, 4-3 at half, 6-3 going into 4th, and NR just ran out of steam. NR has some talented players, but are very young. Also their lack on players killed them in the second half where everyone was struggling with the heat.
way to talk smack about yorktown. it’s always the same “yorktown is down!!!” and “yorktown won’t recover” year in and year out. please talk again at the end of the season and eat your words. haters love to hate. yorktown loves to win when it counts. please tell the world how much better you are after you get 6 state championships and 33 section championships
P&G I was thinking the same thought……..Congratulations to L/P and there fans, good hosts and classy bunch after the win.
I was very impressed with L/P, they played as a team and really frustrated Town. Monteferante dominated the faceoffs and town had no answer for LPs speed at midfield. L/P goalie Rob Belger played really well. Should be a great game in June if they meet again.
I guess L/P fans let there play do the talking !
any score or game color regarding the Put Val and Byram game??
When L/P plays unselfish and finds the open man they are tough to beat.They have 6 players who can score on offense. I think they had 6 or 7 assists to Yorktowns’ 2. If they control the clock, take quality shots and stay out of the penalty box the sectional tournament could be very special for L/P.
Can’t wait to watch the game on MSG Varsity. Joe was all over it – he went up in the Crop in the first half and I saw him interviewing some Somers players who were there at halftime.
laxinupsec1
Luv to see the Pac play strong the rest of the season. Also like the fact that Arlington is developing a good program. Big wins for them would be great.
But IMO it should be EXPECTED that Pac EASILY beats Arlington by a healthy margin. If not then there SHOULD be questions about how much credit Pac should get?
Other then Town where AHS’s margin of loss was decent, they’ve played a weak schedule so far inc. the OT win vs Copaique. The bigger tests other then you guys will of course be LP and Jay. Frankly I think the hype and attention over AHS should tone down and let their record do the talking.
Again nothing against AHS at all. I wish them all the success they comes their way.
This comment applies solely to how IMO, the Pac needs to evaluate itself moving forward vs. various teams.
Congrats to JJ & Lakeland on great wins!!
Congrats to LP, Bronxville and JJ. One note Joe that was really not Syossets home field as their schoold field does not have lights so they use the Town of Oyster Bay Fields in Massapequa. Just an FYI.
slacrosse: agree about the hype. This week we have Wappinger, Mahopac & Lakeland all 3 games will be tough IMO. Wappingers/Arlington always proves to be a exciting game no matter what the sport, given the local rivalry.
No congrats to Bronxville…they didn’t play Ridgefield…a Mamaroneck fan was trying to say they, Mam., would beat Ridgefield if like opponent FL beat them. A Bronxville fan chimed in since they beat Mamaroneck, that using that line of thought, congrats to Bville on the Ridgefield win was in order…
SWLAX
Is this FL supposed to be Fox Lane? If so the conversation is moot since Fox Lane hasn’t had a game with Mamaroneck (early scrimmage only) and certainly hasn’t played Ridgefield.
ahslax
Nothing I’d rather see then a large school like AHS work its way to become a power in Class A. The more the merrier!! ( I felt the same about White Plains , another large school that had a resurgence last season).
It’s great that you guys have a number of top teams on your sched. Good experience playing these teams and wins would of course be icing on the cake.
You’re fortunate vs WP who because of the “brilliant” new schedule structure this season got screwed schedule-wise not getting a chance to play the top power teams as they did last season.
Good luck to Arlington High School!!
congrats to LP on the win! if their defense keeps clicking, their offense keeps controlling the pace of games and capitalizing like they did, imo they could end up a team to beat in june
WoW!!!
JJ 10 wins 1 loss
Great season so far ….. keep up the god work and steady improvement !!!
SWLAX- you sure about Bronxville? I thought they beat Ridgefield…I’m getting mixed signals here
which NR did Mamaroneck barely beat ? N Rock? or New Ro ? how is New Ro’s program i know North Rock is weak
Mamaroneck beat North Rockland. They are a much stronger team than New Ro. Not a great team but not bad. North Rockland lost to Byram Hills by a goal, and Byram Hills beat Rye. Also, North Rockland took Fox Lane, who is 8-2 into overtime. They’re not a great team, but not awful. Mamaroneck beating them by 5 isn’t a bad win.
i hope the pac can do it too. i am sure they will though.
and if its one thing ive seen, you can not compare how good teams are based on other scores. section 1 doesnt work like that. for example: “Team A” beats “team B” by 5 goals. then “Team B” beats “Team C” by 10 goals. according to some logic ive seen from previous posts, “Team A” should beat “Team C” by 15. based on how the season is going so far, its a good possibility that “Team C” could very well beat “Team A”
Honestly…let’s be clear…Ridgefield (CT) has not played Mamaroneck OR Bronxville…Mamaroneck played Fairfield-Ludlowe and won 6-5…Ridgefield played Fairfield-Ludlowe and won 16-7. Stop the madness….we are not talking apples to apples..just a Mam parent trying to be clever I guess…
As of right now Section 1 Seeds.
A 1-Arlington
2-Lakeland
3- Mahopac
4- Yorktown
B 1- Jay
2- Fox Lane
3- Mamaroneck
4- Suffern
5-Somers
Aren’t Suffern and Mamk in A?
Thoughts on the North Rockland team having a down year?
Seedings??
Suffern is A and Mamo is B
“Stop the madness .we are not talking apples to apples.” That’s fine, I like bananas more anyway.
ROCLAX- I think they’re having a down year.
Mamo has good D & G, decent A, but weak M. Tough to control games when M is not winning the battles all game long. Still learning to win.
Big week with Scars., WP, and Eastchester on the slate – not power teams but some of the better comp in their league. They need to prove Bville game was a one game let down – big one at that. Ludlowe has good win for them – at the other’s teams field.
Tough to develop lax program with #1 team in NYS Baseball and hockey players focused on spring hockey more than lax. Youth program putting out some talent, but not enough critical mass yet.
Would luv to see a real resurgence by Mamo.
It’s going to be funny seeing Yorktown as a No. 4 seed or worse in the sectional tournament. Trying to get my head around that.
Just got off the phone with Coach Connolly. He had some interesting things to say about Arlington’s overtime win Saturday over Copiague on Long Island.
“Don’t let their 2-9 record coming in fool you. If this team played in Section 1 and played 10 games they’d probably have 6 or 7 wins.”
Thoughts: Connolly would know this better than anyone who posts on this board, so keep an open mind.
“I equate Copiague to a Brewster or White Plains.”
Thoughts: I suggested White Plains are a fair comparison and he said “definitely.” We all know the strides WP has made in recent years so, for this being Year 1 of a new regime and approach, being compared to WP and playing Town within 6 goals are signs of a program on the upswing.
“A win on Long Island, regardless of the opponent, is good for our program.”
Thoughts: Sure, Copiague is not on anyone’s radar down there, but the overall skill of their players and the quality of the opponents they play is probably better on most every level than your average Section 1 team not among the so-called “elite.”
Connolly also said Arlington played without attackman Pat Boyle and for nearly three quarters without Pat Sunday (taking SATs). He said his team was understandably a bit sluggish, but did what it needed to do ultimately. He thinks if his team was full strength for 48 minutes they could have won by a handful of goals.
As for the notion of possibly being the No. 1 seed in the Class A sectional tournament, Connolly said you play the teams in front of you and if the seeding committee opts for this format of seeding there’s little his kids should have to apologize for.
Thoughts: True enough. Don’t hate the playa, hate the people who make up the rules of the game.
Cuse,
You know I’m one of your BIGGEST fans. But please enough from you on Arlington my friend!!! You’ve done the right thing by them introducing the “new” Arlington team a few weeks ago + a couple of additional comments.
This season, Brewster is a very weak team and the White Plains team I saw vs. Bville is not strong either, at least on D.
So to say Copaigue is = to Brewster and WP but would win 6-7 games in Sect 1 doesn’t jive to me.
Sla,
Not for nothing, but when the coach of Arlington, with no real newspaper anywhere to report his news to, wants to discuss a few things for publication I’m going to publish them.
This isn’t my opinion, then I’d agree enough is enough. If the coach says Copiague is equivalent to someone around here, believe me when I say his analysis of the situation is far more accurate than any of ours — because he’s seen everyone and we haven’t.
The problem here is too many people on this site are either waiting for Arlington to fall flat on its face or expect it to be more than it actually is. That’s evidenced by mere fact that nearly everyone expected Town to beat the Admirals by 10-goal minimum and I was actually laughed at because I said it would be 14-6.
This site can’t be a shrine to just the elite of Section 1. You want to disagree with an analysis, by all means disagree with it. But to tell anyone to stop talking about any team is unfair.
Cuse,
Knew I shouldn’t have started up with you! Think it’s a first!!
Thanks to you , and I mean this in a POSITIVE sense, AHS’s new program with a great coach has already been “put on the map”. This was a great and appropriate service.
If you feel that AHS is somewhat isolated from the press, fair enough. That didn’t occur to me.
I certainly didn’t have any feeling at all of “wanting” AHS to fall on its face but I think you know that. I think some of the AHS bloggers may have inflamed some people by predicting a win for AHS. I also didn’t like when a blogger called KI “Mr Hopkins” and “dised” his performance. Totally classless.
Yes I definately agree and have previously stated that it was great to see another large school program like AHS develop like White Plains.
As you said your or anyone’s comments are subject to debate. I have a feeling about a bit of over play on AHS.
But you also said what is NOT debatable is your right to talk about any team as much as you want.
I stand corrected.
I guess I agree with both of you which is scary 🙂
I have no issue with the increased “press” on Arlington. Love that we have Syracuse participating, and a non-elite team gets some buzz.
My issue is that I’m just not a believer yet. Losing by 6 to Yorktown is admirable, but we don’t know if Yorktown mailed it in, let up, whatever. Lots of teams get heat for not running it up on someone. The game outcome was never in doubt. Everything else on their schedule to date is very soft. Very soft. Copiaque’s power ranking is 83.0 – which puts them between Nyack and Sleepy Hollow on laxpower.
So I think we’ll learn more against when they play Mahopac, L/P, and Brewster. Based on what I saw in a scrimmage against John Jay – color me in Slacrosse’s camp – that they are a nice story – but not ready for prime-time (yet).
slacrosse: I have a lot of respect for you and your fairness but please indulge me. We have already talked about the “hype” of AHS which I agreed with you, because in my perspective it is better to be under the radar then to pontificate and fall on your face. What’s that old saying “Pride goeth before destruction and a Haughty Spirit before a fall” You already called out the bloggers from AHS for what you felt was inappropriate targeting of a specific player, and maybe that is your frustration with AHS, I would assume they were kids not parents, but who knows. Our coach, who not only works in the private sector but also commutes 60 plus miles a day to coach these kids that last year were considered a joke in the section, has a right to relay his observations to a 3rd party..Although, I may have a different opinion lol…This is what blogs and forums are all about cause let’s face it most of us are parents, fans or players that don’t have a voice on the field so this is were we voice it…..
Without many big tests so far, Ridgefield has had lots of time to prepare for Yorktown. I expect Interlichio (sp) to get shut off and face guarded and the offense to be very balanced for Ridgefield.
Ridgefield 11, Yorktown 8
P&G
Come on! You’re in GREAT company when you agree with Cuse AND me!!
Town 11, Ridgefield 7
ahslax,
As I said, most importantly, it was wrong for me to question Cuse for writing on any topic he wants.
I was reacting to what has built up in me, perhaps wrongly, a “feeling” of over load on AHS. Again people will look at the same blogs and disagree with me like P&G above.
Right from the start I applauded AHS’s renewed effort to build the program with a strong coach. Would luv to see another Class A high school develop to challenge the Class A powers. I felt the same exact way about another large school, White Plains and really feel for them as this season the new league has screwed them in terms of a pretty weak sched. versus last season.
AHS is fortunate to have some really tough games to play to improve the team and gauge where it is.
Boy I hope the Coach can keep up with that grueling commute!!
Best of luck to your team going forward.
Ultimately, the more people talk about more than the elite teams in Section 1, Long Island and Fairfield on this site the better it is FOR this site.
I think some people get way too caught up in Laxpower ratings. I can tell you right now not one coach I can think of looks at a Laxpower rating on a team and starts shaking in his boots or starts to imagine when to empty his bench.
The Laxpower rating system, though fair in some respects, does not do the majority of teams it tries to represent justice. I will take the word of coaches or media members who have seen many of these teams play over a computerized system thought up by a few brave souls as the determinent of who to fear and who not to any day of the week.
If some of you think the AHS stuff is overkill on my part, all I can say is I did the same thing last year with White Plains and a little bit with Briarcliff. Joe did it with Irvington. The idea here is not to shun the powers that be, as in the Yorktowns, Jays, Manhassets, Melville and GCs of the world. Not at all. But I do believe drumming up interest in other programs in this day and age of parity in high school lacrosse is not only the right thing to do, but also warranted because many of these same programs, whether the vast majority of the people on this site like it or not, are going to one day become THE teams to talk about.
It’s the A-B-C’s of the new world order of the high school game.
Comparisons and opinion will be debated until the cows come home. But isn’t that what a site like this is designed to do? Rather than simply being a place to pay homage to the traditional powers?
I’ve said it before. If you truly want to see the sport grow you have to get that NIMBY way of thinking out of your minds and just accept the fact that sooner or later new programs will grow and challenge for superiority in every region.
It’s just the nature of the best.