Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com
Brandon Hickey and the Katonah, N.Y.-based Harvey School take a 4-3 record into today’s contest against the Forman School, located in Litchfield, Conn.
Before we get to the games, a quick word about the upcoming playoffs.
I’ve been asked a few times the last week or so if the playoff formula introduced in Section 1 last year will once again be used.
The answer is yes.
Under that formula, teams are assessed no points for a loss, two points for a tie and four points for a win.
In addition, they receive two bonus points for wins vs. teams with a winning percentage of .750 or more, and one bonus points for teams with a winning percentage between .500 and .749. (Bonus points are only given for games played in New York state.)
What’s been quite a week of games will be capped off by some big ones Saturday, including the Murphy Cup between Lakeland/Panas and Yorktown, and one of the FCIAC’s most heated rivalries, between Darien and New Canaan.
We will be rotating those big matchups in our latest poll question.
To vote, go to the right panel of this page. Then, just scroll past the “New Comments” and “Popular” tabs and click on “Poll,” and then cast your vote from the choices available, or write in your choice if it’s not listed.
Now, before we get to today’s slate, let’s talk briefly about yesterday.
After its impressive, season-opening 12-7 win against John Jay, I felt Yorktown was clearly the best team in the section and nothing has happened to change that opinion, including four losses in its previous five games entering its 10-6 win over Somers last night.
Losing by a goal to Smithtown West, by three goals to Darien and to a Top 10 team nationally in Chaminade is not exactly cause for concern. A double-OT loss to Mahopac, in which Yorktown was minus perhaps its team MVP to date, Ty Schuldt, was also among those four losses.
But the Huskers’ close defense of Tyler Fahey, Trevor Koelsch and Eric Cooley played exceptionally well against the Tuskers in front of first-year senior starting goalie Matt Sialiano.
Offensively, what impressed me most was similar to what I saw in the John Jay game when Yorktown had five players score two goals apiece in its 12-7 win. Last night, six different Huskers accounted for Yorktown’s first six goals, starting with freshman Conor Vercruysse. The fact that Vercruysse scored the game’s first goal is significant because he started in place of the injured Nick Mariano, more evidence of Yorktown’s depth.
For more on the game, including stats and photos, check out Isaac Cass’ article on msgvarsity.com by clicking here.
Next up for the Huskers is the Charlie Murphy Cup. It’s a rivalry game that honors a man who was the catalyst of the birth of Yorktown lacrosse, which in turn, spurred the start of lacrosse at programs like Lakeland/Panas, Mahopac and John Jay.
You wonder if Charlie Murphy had never moved to Yorktown and met a teacher at YHS who grew up in Long Island, the program’s first head coach, Jim Turnbull, where Section 1 lacrosse would be right now. Because clearly, Yorktown’s rise was the catalyst for the start of programs throughout the region.
It’s a fascinating story that we explore in depth this Friday at 6 p.m. on MSG Varsity’s “High School SportsDesk” at 6 p.m. on Channel 14 (Optimum). (The show reairs at 9 p.m.) In the meantime, you can check out the all-time scores in the 21-year history of the Murphy Cup by clicking here.
In Suffolk, Ward Melville pulled out a 14-11 win against Sachem North. What I came away from this game is the thought that if Sachem North can improve defensively the next few weeks, it may be able to pull an upset and possibly have a shot at advancing to the Suffolk Class A finals.
The WM attack was led by Tyler Hegarty had three goals, John Edmonds had two goals and one assist, Frank Lucatuorto and Jack Harvazinski scored twice, Will Mazzone had one goal, one assist and six ground balls. Lucatuorto and Bruckner excelled on faceoffs.
Now, without further ado, to today.
In Connecticut, resurgent Joel Barlow, off to a 9-0 start after going 10-9 last year, hosts traditional power Wilton at 6 p.m.
In Westchester, Bronxville, which is 10-1, faces a Pelham squad that hopes to narrow the gap after an 11-2 loss to the Broncos early in the season.
Also of note, first-year varsity program Dobbs Ferry, which is 9-0, takes on Irvington, which has won two of its last three. Both programs are coached by former Somers standouts – Greg Lewis for Dobbs; Drew Werney for Irvington.
On Long Island, Massapequa, whose losses have come against Chaminade and Connetquot, faces Hicksville, in a battle of 9-2 teams.
Now, here’s today’s slate:
Forman at Harvey, 3 p.m.
West Islip at William Floyd, 4 p.m.
Sachem East at Northport, 4 p.m.
Walt Whitman at Bay Shore, 4 p.m.
Cheshire at Amity, 4 p.m.
Commack at Longwood, 4:15 p.m.
Nyack at Albertus Magnus, 4:15 p.m.
Tappan Zee at Pearl River, 4:15 p.m.
Suffern at North Rockland, 4:15 p.m.
Sachem North at West Babylon, 4:30 p.m.
Westlake at Ossining, 4:30 p.m.
White Plains at Eastchester, 4:30 p.m.
Syosset at Farmingdale, 4:30 p.m.
Smithtown East at East Islip, 4:30 p.m.
Pelham at Bronxville, 4:30 p.m.
Saunders at New Rochelle, 4:30 p.m.
Irvington at Dobbs Ferry, 4:30 p.m.
Clarkstown North at North Salem, 4:30 p.m.
Clarkstown South at Harrison, 4:30 p.m.
Smithtown West at Lindenhurst, 4:30 p.m.
Scarsdale at Mamaroneck, 4:30 p.m.
Ward Melville at Half Hollows East, 4:30 p.m.
Plainview-JFK at Port Washington, 4:30 p.m.
Calhoun at Uniondale, 4:30 p.m.
Mepham at Garden City, 4:30 p.m.
East Meadow at Baldwin, 4:45 p.m.
Mineola at North Shore, 4:45 p.m.
Seaford at Floral Park, 4:45 p.m.
Half Hollow Hills West at Connetquot, 5 p.m.
Wilton at Joel Barlow at Field I, Stadium Field, 6 p.m.
Cold Spring Harbor at Island Trees, 6:15 p.m.
Hicksville at Massapequa at Burns Park, 7 p.m.
Long Beach at Oceanside, 7 p.m.
Freeport at MacArthur, 7 p.m.
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Posted In: Fairfield lacrosse, fciac, Gameday, Section 1, Section 11, Section 8, Section 9
Final of WM-SN was 14-11, btw. Also, Sachem North is clearly favored to reach the semifinals. They crushed EI and appear to be better than Connetquot so far, though that will be an interesting matchup with great offense vs. weak defense against great defense and below average offense. Right now I see it as
1. WI
2. WM
3. SW
small gap
4. Sachem North
small gap
5. Connetquot
6. East Islip
small gap
7. Northport
8. Bay Shore
9. Smithtown East
10. Whitman
a little bigger gap
11. Middle Country
12. Lindenhurst
nice analysis as always
Wrong. Defense wins championships. Sachem North plays no D. Did you go to Sachem North? That’s cute you root for them and all but they could lose in the first round…
You’re kidding me right? Lose in the first round? They won’t even have to play in the first round. If you read laxpower at all, you know I didn’t come close to going to Sachem. Fact is, SN could lose to Connetquot in the regular season and still get the 4 seed because of Connetquot’s loss to Lindenhurst and lower preseason seed (weaker schedule). The 4 seed does not have to play in the first round. Could they lose in the quarterfinals? Sure. This year, any of the Suffolk A teams could lose in the quarterfinals. But they will be favored against Connetquot and EI.
I like Pequa but he messing with the wrong guy right!
I do like how you have channelled your inner John McLaughlin from the McLaughlin Group (Wrong!). Did someone from Sachem North beat you up once or something?
Joe,
You’re absolutely right about Town. Knew they had the offense but was really impressed with how their D played allowing very few good shots by Somers.
Thanks Joe for the playoff update, so if things playout in one of my scenarios I can see Bronxville pulling Put Val in the first round, if PV can win 4 games and get into the playoffs. PV gets big penalty for playing a power league schedule.
Pequa “cute” and Lax should not be used together in any conversation. SN plays enough defense to beat first rounders in sect 11.
People are too down on Sachem North right now. Sure, they aren’t the best team like people thought they’d be, but they’ve lost to three elite teams and none of them were really blowouts (they were only down 2 late against SW before a bunch of goals resulted from overaggressive defense). They are still real dangerous.
How come no mention of syosset at farming dale? This will be the Nassau A finals. Both farming dale and syosset should have beaten massapequa and will when either play them. And Hicksville, well, my mother told me if I have nothing good to say……
The fact is that any of these four teams can beat each other on any given day. Farmingdale has been a huge letdown this year. I saw their game against SWR and I was expecting much more. With pretty much a D1 offense they should be able to score more than one goal in 47 minutes. I know SWR is solid, but Farmingdale would not be in the top 6 in Suffolk A.
1. Pequa
2. Syosset
3. Dale
4. H’ville
5. Oceanside
Seems like the some top 4 for the last few years in 8A,
Suffern 7 North Rockland 2
tied game at half time, 2-2, North Rockland almost pulled another upset
Suffolk scores:
WI 22, Floyd 5
WM 7, Hills East 2 (1-0 WM at half)
SW 16, Lindy 1
Smithtown East 10, EI 9 (minor upset)
Bay Shore 16, Whitman 12
Northport 16, Sachem East 11
Sachem North 12, West Bab 4
Mamaroneck 7, Scarsdale 5
Anyone on the DF Irvington Game, Joe I know you have skin in that game?
Congratulations to Jack Grass for your fine four goals one assist performance and Henry Grass for having one goal and three assists as Bronxville beat Pelham by a score of 10-8.
Sounds like the pelicans played a good game since they previously lost by 9 to the broncos & sport a 6-4 record compared to 11-1 for bville. Considering the Pelicans lost to Mamo by 6, WP by 5 & Echester by a goal it must of been some effort to keep it so close…10-8 wow!!!
Was 10-3 at one point, don’t get too excited. That being said, the Broncos do need to work on slamming the door on teams when they have the chance.
And I should add congrats to Pelham for not giving up and playing hard until the final whistle.
have to agree, they did shut it down at 10-3 and possibly a little too early but the coach decided to stop pouring it on and took out the first string offense. It was 10-5 with 3 minutes to go and they scored 3 garbage time goals. Give Pelham credit for not quitting but in truth they were garbage time goals.
Funny…he took out the 1st string O but no mention of 1st string D that gave up 5 in a row or did he sub out the whole team to allow 5 in a row…whatever it was all garbage time I guess
Actually played the game minus one regular long pole who has been out now for 3 weeks but will be back tomorrow and 2 starting D middies. It’s great to have depth but it does start to strain a team and that’s not an excuse and was only proffered due to the snide insinuation. Bottom line they got the W
Somers 7 Hen Hud 1
Kevin Cousin, Brett Emanuel each 3-1
Chris Cousin 17 savessss
Letting a team to run off 5 straight goals to go fr 10-3 to 10-8 is dangerous. Sounds like the final horn saved bville!
agree, a 7 goal lead in lax is not all that much especially in the 3rd quarter, and the idea that well, you can always put the 1st string back in and right the ship is no guarantee they will be able to automatically kick it back into gear. You can blame the team and say they don’t have the killer instinct but they are getting that message from the coach when he starts running the 2nd and 3rd lines exclusively except for man ups. You certainly didn’t see anyone’s foot off the gas in the Fordham Prep game.
Alright guys/boys…when 4 goals are scored in the last 3.5 mins of the game to make the score close, yeah, you’re right, what a huge coaching mistake to trust your team and not want anyone to get hurt with a six goal lead. Stick to coaching your youth teams.
Too bad Rye’s in B…if they weren’t the ville’s season would end like it has the last two yrs, but maybe it still will. Hopefully Pville or BH can get up for the broncos like the Tigers did..a buzzsaw’s waiting somewhere & your squad IS NOT BATTLETESTED
Man, you hate Bronxville…neither team you mention is battle tested either, but you hope they can get up to play the Broncos…something happen that we should know about?
And yes, too bad Rye is TWICE the size and Bronxville and was forced to move up a class due to enrollment, what an atrocity.
Poor lil bville..BH manned-up & played the Garnets. I would think after getting bounced 2 yrs in a row by Rye & having the BEST team in bronco history w/ 4 D1 players as MSG-Varsity announced during the Somers/Town game the ville would of done anything to see where they stand. By the way, the small Lil bville argument is week since they play WP plays em 2moro. Maybe another big bad tiger team can get up for the sect.1 C power. Think Manhasset ever worried who they played when they were in C. Get real & play someone & make a name for yourself
Again, man you hate Bronxville.
Rye and Byram are in the same league, aren’t they?
Farmingdale 8, Syosset 3
Farming dale too big and fast for syosset. The score should have been more lopsided but syosset goalie made some sick saves. Apparently the top 3syosset players are all 10th graders. Da era should win nassau
Wilton 11
Barlow 7
Sounds like the 6-4 Pelham Pelicans gave the 11-1 broncos a game losing by 2 after having lost earlier in the season by 9 to the broncos. Pelham had losses to mamaroneck by 6, white plains by 5 & eastchester by 1. Congratulations for hanging in w/ the class C powerhouse
Agree. Good game by Pelham. Have to say given Pelham’s record was astounded at how close the score was.
Could be some “chinks” in the broncos’ armor
Smithtown west beat Lindy 15 to 1. Too bad they will get smacked on Friday when they play wesi islip. There coach won’t know what to do with his son out with a arm injury. He tries to run that whole offense around k.k that is y u will never beat islip or w. melville.
LOL. They went to OT with WM. Keenan is a great player, that is why they run the offense through him. Best pure feeder on LI right now. With him, they have a very good shot at beating WI. Without him, still a shot but not as great.
What about Keio-Blind Brooke from yesterday?? No love? No score? No play by play? P’ville must be hanging on by a thread on that one!