Photo by Ray Nelson/MaxPreps.com
The Ward Melville Patriots renew their rivalry with West Islip in a clash of unbeatens today at 6:30 p.m. at Ward Melville. The teams have met in the Suffolk Class A title game six straight years.
Saturday’s Woodstick Classic game between Garden City and Manhasset may wind up being Round 1, since two-time defending Class C state champ Manhasset has moved up to Class B this season and a postseason rematch seems inevitable.
The same can be said about today’s Suffolk showdown between defending Section 11 Class A champ West Islip, which has won four state titles the last five years, and resurgent — and tradition — rich Ward Melville.
Still, today’s game has the makings of an instant classic even before the opening faceoff. We’ll see if it lives up to its potential.
It should. After all, the teams have met in the Suffolk Class A title game an astonishing six straight years.
We previewed the WI-WM game last night on MSG Varsity’s “High School SportsDesk.” You can check it out, including our weekly “Under the Radar” segment, by clicking here.
Smithtown West and Sachem North are two other teams that easily could advance to the Suffolk Class A finals. They meet today at Sachem North.
The Patriots fell to WI 16-9 in the Suffolk title game after falling to the Lions 16-5 in the regular season. A year earlier, in 2009, WM beat WI 8-7 in OT in the regular season, only to fall 9-5 in the conference championship game.
Six-time Connecticut Class M state champ Darien looks to bounce back from Monday’s 10-7 loss at Manhasset by getting what would be a monumental win as the Blue Wave visit two-time defending New York CHSAA champ St. Anthony’s in a battle of national powers. Like the Manhasset game, it will be at 7 p.m.
Also today, Hackley looks for its eighth straight win against Poly Prep in a showdown of arguable the Ivy League’s top two teams. (Hackley has lost only to Colorado power Regis Jesuit. Poly Prep is 6-0.)
In Section 1, there are some interesting games, including first-year varsity program Dobbs Ferry, which is off to a quick start coach Greg Lewis, taking on red-hot New Rochelle in a key league showdown. Also of note, White Plains visits Scarsdale, and there are three big intra-county games in Rockland, including Suffern and Nyack.
Finally, Brunswick (7-3), which has a win over defending Western New England champ Salisbury, hosts New Jersey power Lawrenceville (8-1).
Before we get to today’s schedule rundown, a couple of quick programming notes.
You can watch the entire Darien-Manhasset and Darien-Yorktown games on msgvarsity.com by clicking here.
And if you’re a follower of the Connecticut lax scene, you can check out a replay of the live chat I had yesterday with Dan Nowak of the New Haven Register by clicking here.
Now, without further ado, here’s today’s Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut slate:
Sachem East at West Babylon, 4 p.m.
Longwood at North Babylon, 4 p.m.
Fairfield Warde at Stamford, 4 p.m.
Notre Dame-Fairfield at Joel Barlow, 4 p.m.
North Haven at St. Joseph, 4 p.m.
Middle Country at Riverhead at Pulaski Complex, 4 p.m.
Nanuet at North Rockland, 4:15 p.m.
Suffern at Nyack, 4:15 p.m.
Tappan Zee at Clarkstown North, 4:15 p.m.
Eastchester at Pelham at Glover Field, 4:30 p.m.
Poly Prep at Hackley, 4:30 p.m.
Lawrenceville (N.J.) at Brunswick, 4:30 p.m.
Garden City at Carey, 4:30 p.m.
Wantagh at Levittown Division, 4:30 p.m.
South Side at Kennedy Bellmore, 4:30 p.m.
Roslyn at Great Neck South, 4:30 p.m.
Hewlett at Lynbrook at South Middle School, 4:30 p.m.
Brentwood at Copiague, 4:30 p.m.
West Hempstead at Wheatley at Carle Place, 4:30 p.m.
Glen Cove at Great Neck North at Football Field, 4:30 p.m.
Smithtown East at William Floyd, 4:30 p.m.
White Plains at Scarsdale, 4:30 p.m.
Ardsley at Irvington, 4:30 p.m.
New Rochelle at Dobbs Ferry, 4:30 p.m.
Hastings at Pearl River, 4:30 p.m.
Saunders at Edgemont, 4:30 p.m.
Connetquot at Northport, 4:45 p.m.
Malverne at Lawrence, 4:45 p.m.
Jericho at New Hyde Park, 5 p.m.
Bethpage at Sewanhaka, 5 p.m.
Bronxville at Scarsdale, 5:15 p.m.
Albertus Magnus at Clarkstown North, 5:15 p.m.
Half Hollow Hists East at Lindenhurt at Lindenhurst Middle School, 6 p.m.
Smithtown West at Sachem North, 6:15 p.m.
West Islip at Ward Melville, 6:30 p.m.
Darien at St. Anthony’s, 7 p.m.
New Canaan at Fairfield Ludlowe at Taft Field, 7 p.m.
You can reach us by email at info@laxlessons.com.
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Posted In: Fairfield lacrosse, fciac, Gameday, Section 1, Section 11, Section 8, Section 9, SWC lacrosse
Picks for big Suffolk games
WM 8, WI 6
Sachem North 11, Smithtown West 10
Connetquot 8, Northport 7
WI 12 WM 6
SW 14 SN 11
NP 10 CQ 8
WM 9 WI 8 in a great game
SW 13 SN 12 in another great game
CQ 9 Nport 7
St A’s 9 Darien 7
Bville 14 Sdale 6
I hope you’re right with your picks but the Bronxville game could be a lot closer than anyone expects because they are playing at Scarsdale and the Raiders always get up for games against Bronxville.
They started out that way…playing well…great goalkeeping…then the wheels fell off…combination of great transition game by broncos & bad D by the raiders. Got so bad I had to lv..oh well
Old Rugger must have a crystal ball because it was Bronxville over Scarsdale 15-6. It was 11-2 at half and the first string did not play the 2nd half.
Hey folks – we covered a lot of ground on our weekly tristate lax segment on MSG Varsity’s “High School SportsDesk” last night. Among the topics: Woodstick, West Islip-Ward Melville, Poly Prep-Hackley previews; the rise of Section 9; and our Tristate “Under the Radar” player.
All that in just over five minutes. You can watch it by clicking here.
SW 7 Sachem N 12
Brunswick 1 Lawrenceville 2 2:10 left in 1st
3-3 Brunswick 9:56 2nd
4-3 Lawrence 9:27
6-3 Lawrenceville 1:00 left in 2nd
7-3 Lawrenceville Half
1-0 Scarsdale
7-4 Lawrenceville 9:34 3rd
1-1 sean’s goalie’s on fire raiders playing good
7-5 Lawrenceville 7:05
2-1 Scarsdale
2-2 on a mcormac laser
7-6 Larenceville 2:40
Wolf keepin it close bville outplaying raiders last 5mins 1st 2-2 after 1
8-6 Lawrenceville 0:56
D breaksdown3-2 bville 5-2 now wow! Sean calls TO needs to get close D in order smart TO I hope
8-7 Lawrenceville 9:58 in 4th
This is over 7-2 bvlle…raiders control ball get 1 shot then bvll scores again 8-2 Scarsdale gettin killled in transition game
Agreed, Scarsdale was not getting anything on offense, most of the time it was 1 shot if that and then Bronxville was clearing the ball amazingly quickly. Their clear was as efficient as I have ever seen and they were off to the races and right into transition where they scored something like 6 goals in a 5 minute span to slam the door. Bronxville faceoff man must have won over 80% of the draws which did not help them either. 11-2 at half and it was turn off the lights time.
8-8 Brunswick 5:33
Northport 4, Connetquot 4 at half.
9-8 Lawrenceville 1:37
Feel bad for this goalie…9-2 5mins left..10-2 3 mins just heard a raider parent call it a clinic…11-2 bye bye non releasable by raiders for last 2 mins of the half best thing to happen for Scarsdale…bvlle didn’t score during it!!
Updates please on both WI and Darien games–thx
The Bronxville poles were throwing these 40 and 50 yard passes right on their teammates stick and those receiving middies or other poles were then coming in like a house on fire in unsettled situations and it turned in to a real turkeyshoot. Those long accurate passes though were the killer and they were being thrown by all of them not just one guy so they had no idea who, where or what guy to cover. Amazing display of stick handling skills by the Bronxville poles so kudos to them.
Should of taken the ride to setauket to see two legendary programs go into OT & have it decided by one heck of a play by the goalie! Live & learn. I was on the wrong side of the sound. Had to see if friend was able to pull a rabbit out of his hat…being so close to Easter & all
9-8 Lawrenceville Final
Any WI-WM score yet?
WI- WM score anybody?
WM 3 WI 1 end of 1Q
West Islip 4, Ward Melville 4 in 2Q
Thx-keep em coming! Darien as well
5-4 WI now, I’m in Baltimore but getting great updates…
Darien updates please!
St. A’s up 5-3 on Darien, was 5-2 after one
WI up 5-4 on WM at half
Appreciate it! Keep ’em coming
There is quite a bit of fog at St. Anthony’s.
Still 5-3 St. A’s, now with 2:35 left in the second quarter.
St. A’s jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Eric Parnon scored off a clear for Darien. Case Matheis then made it 3-2, but St. A’s answered and led 5-2 after one, as per Lax Novice.
5-3 at halftime.
Final: Connetquot 10, Northport 9
It was 4-4 at the half.
Hearing 5 – 3 St. A’s at the half Parnon 1g Matheis 1g 1a Watch out, Darien has dug out from MUCH deeper holes!
Final: Smithtown West 15, Sachem North 8
Ward Melville has tied it at 5, middle of the third
6-5 WM
6-5 after three
and we’re tied again…
WM man up with 2:30 left
OT
WM wins faceoff
More on St. A’s 5, Darien 3 at halftime – St. A’s faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa, a Maryland commit, left the game late in the second quarter after taking a hit from Eric Parnon and did not return. Parnon is also bound for Maryland.
Raffa and St. A’s won eight of nine FOs.
Still 5-3 St. A’s. Less than three minutes remaining in the third.
Maybell scores for Darien with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. It’s 5-4 St. A’s.
Maybell is a player, looked very good vs Manhasset
Richard Gregory scores for Darien. It’s tied 5-5.
After another Maryland-bound player, Joe LoCascio, gave St. A’s a 6-5 lead, Ben Preston tied it at 6-6 for Darien.
Chanenchuk scores after a turnover to give St. A’s a 7-6 lead with 3:05 remaining. Darien won the ensuing faceoff.
Ward Melville turns it over, WI gets it and calls timeout in OT
Somehow goaltender Kyle Turri takes the ball the length of the field and scores the game winner for West Islip in overtime!
You’re kidding!! What a game!!!
I wish I was there, can’t wait to see this on film.
That is a legendary finish! Two heavyweights battle and the goalie goes coast-2-coast in OT is amazing.
That’s incredible!!!!
Ouch. That’s just a tough way to lose a game.
Darien 7, St. Anthony’s 7 – Gregory scores from Matheis to tie it at 7-7 with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter. Darien has the ball back after St. A’s turned it over after winning the faceoff after Gregory’s goal.
After two big saves by Burke, Friars fail to advance.
Matheis then scores with a minute to go. Darien leads 8-7.
Chanenchuk scores with 1.3 seconds left for SA to force overtime
Chanenchuk ties it with 1.8 seconds left. We have another overtime game. It’s 8-8 after regulation.
Junior middie Tim Murphy scores and Darien wins 9-8 in OT.
Darien wins, Tim Murphy scores it
Hah, you got me Joe!
You sure couldn’t ask for much more today – two OT thrillers in the marquee games on Long Island, including a goalie scoring the winning goal in overtime, and a well-played 9-8 Lawrenceville win over Brunswick.
Sounds like the two best games ever played on the same night north of 495!!!
If WM and WI have a rematch and meet once again for the Suffolk Class A title, it would have to be required viewing for lax fans for sure.
Great games and play by all 4 teams!!
Particular congrats to Darien and WI on these wins.
Darien 1-2-2-3-1 = 9
St. Anthony’s 3-2-1-2-0 = 8
Tim Murphy assisted by Case Matheis – game winner 30 seconds into the first OT
Darien scoring:
Case Matheis 2-5
Richard Gregory 2-0
Tim Murphy 2-0
Ben Preston 1-1
Graham Maybell 1-0
Eric Parnon 1-0
St. Anthony’s scoring:
Sean McDonough 2-2
Joe LoCascio 2-1
Matt Chanenchuk 2-0
Brian Sherlock 1-0
Adam Pomper 1-0
Darien goalie saves:
Dylan Torey 15
St. Anthony’s goalie saves:
Kieran Burke 15
Records: Both teams 7-2
I think St. Anthony’s scored all 5 first half goals in the first quarter.
Yes they did, including the first two in the first minute of the game, then were shut out until LoCascio’s EMO goal with about 4:30 left in the 4th quarter. That was the point at which this game got really interesting.
Suffern continues to roll through Rockland after a double digit win over Nyack and is sitting on an 8-1 record with the only loss a 1 goal loss to LP. Watch out for them to continue to improve!
Suffern (and Pleasantville) have weak-schedule-itis – they play nobody. Of course they are rolling through their schedule – good for them, though.
Same w/ Bville…biggest test will be Fordham Prep. Pville & Bville might meet up in C sectional. C is light w/o Rye. Bet Bville would like to play Rye to see how they stack-up after having season ended by Garnets last year. Best lax team Bville has had. Feel bad that those top recruits don’t get to gauge themselves b/4 playoffs.
Agree with you bout Suff’s sched.
But have seen them play. McNally , Hammerschlag, some tough hockey to lax players making a good transition–just saying they have enough players to have decent potential to cause an upset in the play-offs.
http://www.newsday.com/video/west-islip-tops-ward-melville-in-overtime-thriller-1.2843393
sick sick goal…great intensity..WM middie had a chance to slow him down, but chose to go with a silly wrap check…goalie is the brother of the Duke middie?