Long Island Lacrosse

BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI

Brennan and Smith Shine in North Victory

Garden City's Erin Brennan scored four times, including the winner with 1:15 left, and added an assist as the North Girls team beat the South 13-12 in the Under-Armour All-America girls lacrosse game at Towson University on July 12. West Babylon's Shannon Smith scored her four goal to tie the score at 12 with 2:14 remaining. St. Anthony's Jessica Russo added two goals.

Chanenchuk Leads North in Tight Win

St. Anthony's Mike Chanenchuk scored three goals to help the North team top the South 13-12 on in the Under-Armour All-America boys lacrosse game. Garden City's Francis McDonough had a goal and an assist. Syosset's Jeff Cohen added a goal and Rocky Point's Tom Palasek had an assist.

COQUITLAM, B.C -- Craig Dowd (East Northport, N.Y./Northport/Georgetown) scored three goals and added two assists, goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman (Syosset, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor/Virginia) made 19 saves to lead the U.S. under-19 men's lacrosse team to a 19-12 victory over Canada in the gold medal match of the 2008 International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) World Championships at Percy Perry Stadium on July 12.

Nick Elsmo (Edgewater, Md./Severn/Virginia) and Dean Gibbons (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City/Harvard) added three goals apiece. The U.S., a six-time gold medalist, is now 36-0 all-time in ILF U-19 play dating back to the championships' inception in 1988.

Canada closed within 10-8 at the 16:57 mark in the second half, but the the U.S. responded with three straight goals in the next three minutes by Ryan Young (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset/Maryland), Elsmo and Gibbons to take a 13-8 lead.

Rhamel Bratton (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington/Virginia) scored to put Team USA up 14-10

U.S. Goals
Dean Gibbons 3, Nick Elsmo 3, Craig Dowd 3, Anthony Mendes 2, Tim
Donovan 2, Rhamel Bratton 2, Ryan Young 1, Matthew Dolente 1, Andrew
Feinberg 1, Josh Amidon 1

U.S. Assists
Dowd 2, Young 2, Mendes 1, Donovan 1

These 20 players will travel and compete at the Empire State Game from July 23-27 in Binghamton. The team is dominated by players from West Islip and Manhasset. How much does this tell you about both team's chances next season?

Alexander, Dominique Baldwin
Bellairs, Rob Plainedge
Braddish, Ian West islip
Cappellini, Bradley Manhasset
Duvnjak, John Manhasset
English, Connor Manhasset
Froccaro, Jeff Port Washington
Galasso, Nicky West Islip
Hodgson, Andrew West Islip
Manny, William St. Anthony's
McCormack, Michael West Islip
Meyer, Maxx Half Hollow Hills East
Molinari, Jeff Manhasset
Murphy, Steven Ward Melville
O'Reilly, Nick South Side
Ostrander, Anthony Farmingdale
O'Toole, Brian Long Beach
Palasek, Matthew Rocky Point
Schreiber, Thomas East Meadow
Zaremba, Ryan West Islip

Four Long Island girls teams made the ranks:

1 - John Carroll School
2 - Sts. Stephen's & Agnes
3 - Severa Park
4 - West Genesee
5 - Moorestown
6 - McDonogu School
7 - Garden City
8 - Radnor
9 - Farmingdale
10 - Shawnee
11 - Brighton, NY
12 - Northport
13 - Severn School
14 - Shoreham Wading River
15 - Westwood, MA
16 - Notre Dame Prep, MD
17 - New Trier
18 - Broadneck
19 - Springfield (DelCo)
20 - Archbishop Spalding

The 2008 squad:

Attack:
Danielle Etrasco - Massapequa
Nicole Moran - Lindenhurst
Janine Hillier - Farmingdale
Erin Fitzgerald - Mt. Sinai
Caroline McTiernan - Garden City
Gabi Wiegand - Bay Shore
Devon Rhodes - Northport
Alyssa Murray - West Babylon
Jackie Ardolino - Floyd

Midfield:
Monica DeMairo - Massapequa
Kara Mugo - Rocky Point
Jenny Granger - Ward Melville
Shannon Gilroy - Northport
Amanda Macaluso - Hauppauge
Morgan O'Reilly - Sayville
Staphanie Anderson - Shoreham Wading River
Kaitlin Brosco - Shoreham Wading River
Shannon Mangini - Garden City
Jenna Davis - Division

Defense:
Rackel Weiderkehr - Shoreham Wading River
Brittany Delea - Shoreham Wading River
Shannon Difliese - Garden City
Katie Ciaci - Northport
Chelsea Intrabartola - Commack
Adrianna Amendola - Eastport-South Manor
Becky Hanley - Northport
Aimee Capps - Rocky Point
Tara Coyle - Farmingdale

Goalies:
Lauren Maksym - Farmingdale
Sallie Beth Finnegan - West Islip
Lily Kalata - Smithtown East

Here are your Long Island All-Americans (Girls) first team

Senior Erin Brennan, Midfield, Garden City - attending U-Penn
Junior Katie Ciaci, Defense, Northport
Senior Dayna Defliese, Midfield/Defense, Garden City - attending U-Mass
Junior Monica Demairo, Midfield, Massapequa
Senior Caitlin Fifiled, Midfield/Attack, North Babylon - attending Richmond
Junior Erin Fitzgerald, Attack, Mt. Sinai
Junior Jenny Granger, Midfield, Ward Melville
Senior Alysa Kildare, Midfield/Defense, Farmingdale - attending Johns Hopkins
Senior Becky Lynch, Midfield, Garden City - attending UNC
Junior Lauren Maksum, Goalkeeper, Farmingdale
Junior Devon Rhodes, Midfield/Attack, Northport
Senior Candace Rossi, Attack, Farmingdale - attending Johns Hopkins
Senior Jessica Russo, Midfield/Attack, St. Anthonys - attending Northwestern
Senior Shannon Smith, Attack, West Babylon - attending Northwestern
Senior Lacy Vigmostad, Midfield/Defense, Northport - attending Northwestern
Senior Brittany Wilton, Midfield, Garden City - attending Boston College

Honorable Mention

Senior Stephanie Anderson, Midfield, Shoreham Wading River
Sophomore Caitlin Brosco, Midfield, Shoreham Wading River
Senior Lauren Connors, Defense, Manhasset - attending Denver
Junior Jenna Davis, Midfield, Levittown-Division
Junior Danielle Etrasco, Attack, Massapequa
Senior Lori Fillipone, Goalkeeper, Northport - attending Penn State
Senior Catherine Furman, Defense, Garden City - attending Holy Cross
Junior Becky Hanley, Defense, Northport
Junior Janine Hillier, Attack, Farmingdale
Senior Colleen McCaffrey, Midfield, Mt. Sinai - attending Johns Hopkins
Senior Kaela McGilloway, Midfield, North Shore - attending Brown
Junior Caroline McTiernan, Attack, Garden City
Sophomore Cara Mupo, Attack, Rocky Point
Senior Nina Sarcona, Attack, Northport - attending U-Mass
Senior Whitney Quackenbush, Goalkeeper, Manhasset - attending Yale
Junior Gabbi Wiegand, Midfield, Bay Shore

Laxpower.com just came out with its National Coaches/Computer Ratings -- thanks to the site's George Baldassare for the heads up.

A friend of mine down at the Baltimore Sun covered Gilman this year, says they were sick. Not surprised they sit atop this list. Thought New Jersey's Mountain Lakes would be a little higher up. As for West Islip -- they'll be at the top of this, and every other list next year. Who do they return, nearly everyone?

Thoughts?

1. Gilman MD 18- 1- 0 199.90 100.00 99.90
2. West Genesee NY 21- 3- 0 199.66 99.91 99.75
3. West Islip NY 19- 2- 0 199.20 99.40 99.80
4. LaSalle College HS PA 31- 2- 0 199.02 99.32 99.70
5. Loyola-Blakefield MD 13- 4- 0 198.73 99.28 99.45
6. Ward Melville NY 19- 1- 0 198.61 98.94 99.67
7. Darien CT 22- 1- 0 198.55 99.20 99.35
8. Rocky Point NY 21- 1- 0 198.38 98.72 99.66
9. Calvert Hall MD 15- 3- 0 198.23 98.73 99.50
10. Mountain Lakes NJ 22- 1- 0 198.12 98.78 99.34
11. Malvern Prep PA 21- 3- 0 197.60 98.26 99.34
12. Syosset NY 17- 5- 0 197.56 98.11 99.45
13. Kent Denver CO 15- 0- 0 197.35 98.05 99.30
14. Lawrenceville NJ 17- 2- 0 197.35 97.80 99.55
15. Brother Rice MI 23- 0- 0 196.92 97.82 99.10
16. Chaminade NY 14- 4- 0 196.65 97.40 99.25
17. Garden City NY 15- 5- 0 196.47 97.16 99.32
18. Canandaigua NY 23- 1- 0 196.28 97.23 99.05
19. Georgetown Prep MD 18- 3- 0 196.27 97.21 99.05
20. Mount Sinai NY 18- 3- 0 196.27 97.00 99.27
21. Deerfield MA 15- 1- 0 196.14 96.99 99.15
22. Saint Andrews FL 22- 1- 0 195.88 96.93 98.95
23. John Jay-Cross River NY 18- 6- 0 195.70 96.50 99.20
24. Yorktown NY 20- 4- 0 195.67 96.59 99.08
25. McDonogh MD 16- 6- 0 195.66 96.63 99.03

GOAL
Rob Bellaris (Plainedge)
Bobby Whitmarsh (Smithtown East)
Conor Ferguson (Carey)
Ryan Zaremba (West Islip)

ATTACK
Nick O'Rielly (South Side)
Connor English (Manhasset)
Eddie Loftus (Syosset)
Will Manny (St. Anthony's)
Nick Galasso (West Islip)
Michael Chapman (Mount Sinai)
Matt Palasek (Rocky Point)

DEFENSE
Anthnony Ostrander (Farmingdale)
Bradley Cappelini (Manhasset)
Joe Ednie (Baldwin)
Michael McCormack (West Islip)
Thomas Keith (Syosset)
Maxx Meyer (Half Hollow Hills East)
Kyle Sheridan (Smithtown West)
Brian Winterfelt (Calhoun)
John Duvnjak (Manhasset)

MIDFIELD
Jeff Froccaro (Port Washington)
Jeff Molinari (Manhasset)
Brian O'Toole (Long Beach)
Thomas Schrieber (St. Anthony's)
Dominique Alexander (Baldwin)
Christian Kennedy (Cold Spring Harbor)
Ian Braddish (West Islip)
Andrew Hodgson (West Islip)
Steve Murphy (Floyd)
James Ryan (Ward Melville)

BY DARREN SANDS

An athlete stood next to his college coach three days after playing the state championship game. He has already begun, he tells him, to work out for the next season, for his freshman year. For fall ball. In June.

Sounds like something an athlete telling a college coach something he would want to hear, a plea for playing time. But coming from the kid standing on the sideline, talking to Harvard coach John Tillman, it sounds like the truth.

What else might you expect from Jeff Cohen, this year’s Newsday 2008 Nassau County Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year?

“To me that sent a very strong message,” said Harvard coach John Tillman, “about how important lacrosse is to him and how committed and driven he is to being successful at the next level.”

Cohen made his mark at Syosset, with 260 career goals becoming the all-time goal-scorer in Long Island history and, as Cohen went, so went the Braves. One need look no further than Syosset’s first game against Garden City for the source of Cohen’s motivation.

"I posted that story on my wall," he said earlier this spring, referring to a game which conspicuously noted that he did not score.

Tillman, meanwhile was in town at the Nassau Empire tryouts at Syosset, which is when he got to visit with Cohen. "I told him, 'I’m going to challenge you.,'" Tillman said. "He knows he has to earn his spot, and I think he’s excited about that.

"What he's done should give him some confidence. Now he's gotta go out and prove it again."

Newsday spoke with Tillman about his visits to Long Island, and the buzz around here surrounding what many will believe his program's meteoric rise to the the apex of Division I lacrosse in the next few years.

He mentioned that landing Cohen and players like Garden City product Dean Gibbons are paramount to their success, but that the growing popularity of the sport in Eastern Massachusetts along with the Final Four coming to Foxborough's Gillette Stadium, put Harvard in a prime position -- especially as the area's only Division I Men's lacrosse program.

"We've proven we can recruit the top students who are also good lacrosse players, and I think kids realize that there is a lot to the Harvard experience."

GOAL

Bellaris, Rob (Plainedge)
Collins, Eddie (Long Beach)
DiGiacomo, Nick (Middle Country)
Ferguson, Conor (Carey)
Whitmarsh, Rob (Smithtown East)
Zaremba, Ryan (West Islip)

ATTACK
Chapman, Mike (Mt. Sinai)
Dellavecchia, Chris (North Shore)
DiMaria, Dave (HHH West)
English, Connor (Manhasset)
Galasso, Nick (West Islip)
Granata, Joe (Lindenhurst)
Heenan, Kevin (Manhasset)
Himler, William (Chaminade)
Loftus, Eddie (Syosset)
Lustgraten, Joe (SWR)
Manny, William (St. Anthony's.)
Mock, Stephen (Huntington)
Palasek, Matt (Rocky Point)
O’Reilly, Nick (South Side)
Sweeney, Chris (Bay Shore)
Tripp, Eric (Glen Cove)

MIDFIELD

Alexander, Dominique (Baldwin)
Braddish, Ian (West Islip)
Celano, Joe (Farmingdale)
Dolan, Kevin (Wes Islip)
Fiorvanti, Pat (St. Anthony's)
Froccaro, Danny (Port Washington)
Fumani, Ryan (St. Anthony's)
Gilmartin, Will (St. Anthony's)
Grabher, Robert (North Shore)
Henry, Shane (Mt. Sinai)
Hodgson, Andrew (West Islip)
Isnardi, Nick (Massapequa)
Kelly, Tom (Rocky Point)
Kennedy, Christian (Cold Spring Harbor)
Mancuso, Jesse (Northport)
Metros, Andrew (Great Neck North)
Molinari, Jeff (Manhasset)
Murphy, Steve (William Floyd)
O’Toole, Brian (Long Beach)
Podgurski, Charlie (Sayville)
Ryan, James (Ward Melville)
Schreiber, Tom (St. Anthony's)
Tesoriero, Douglas (Syosset)
Zawadzki, Anthony (Kings Park)
Worker K.C. (Farmingdale)

DEFENSE

Borruso, William (Eastport-South Manor)
Cappellini, Bradley (Manhasset)
Duvnjak, John (Manhasset)
Ednie, Joe (Baldwin)
Keith, Thomas (Syosset)
Krzeminski, Dan (Lindenhurst)
Kunkel, Matt (Ward Melville)
Lang, James (Hicksville)
Lovrich, Corey (Long Beach)
McCormack, Mike (West Islip)
Meyer, Maxx (HHH East)
Muller, Mike (Rocky Point)
Ostrander, Anthony (Farmingdale)
Sheridan, Kyle (Smithtown East)
Winterfeldt, Brian (Calhoun)

BY RODERICK BOONE

Yesterday, CAA commissioner Tom Yeager announced UMass and Penn State will join the conference beginning in 2010. The news comes on the heels of last week's revelation by the Big East that its forming a league.

UMass and Penn State will hook up with Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra and Towson to form a six-team conference. "Both schools have excellent programs along with outstanding coaches and players," Yeager said in a statement. "Their addition will keep CAA men's lacrosse among the top Division I conferences in the nation."

The move is directly due to the Big East and NEC starting leagues. Sacred Heart and Robert Morris -- current members of the CAA -- will head to the NEC and Villanova moves to the Big East after next season. The CAA will continue to evaluate additional membership options.

St. John's, meanwhile, is moving out of the ECAC and into the newly formed Big East beginning in 2010. The Red Storm will join Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, Syracuse and Villanova and they will play a six-game single round-robin regular season schedule. The conference has plans to apply for an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Championship field.

"The creation of a Big East lacrosse conference is a huge step for St. John's lacrosse and the other members of the league," St. John's AD Chris Monasch said. "The combination of the Big East brand, its television influence and the quality of the member lacrosse programs will yield one of the best conferences in the country."

BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI

So far Long Island is 1-1 on the day. Lets see if Mount Sinai can finish this lacrosse season with its first state title and eight for coach Joe Cuozzo.

Mount Sinai Wins 10-5.

GOAL -- Mike Chapman scores to make it 10-5.

GOAL -- Eric Baslov scores on a pass fro Mike Chapman with 3:56. Mt. Sinai leads 9-5.

GOAL -- Corning East goal. Mustangs lead 8-5 with 7:30 left.

GOAL -- James O'Brien scores to the top left corner. Mt. Sinai leads 8-4 with 8:30 left.

Mount Sinia leads 7-4 after three quarters.

GOALS -- Corning East scores three straight times to cut the Mount Sinia lead to 7-4 with :44 seconds left in the third quarter. Perotti scored the third.

Connor Fitzgerald has shut down Corning East's All-American attack Matt Perotti.

James Dawson is down near the left side of the goal. He is up and ok.

GOAL -- Mike Chapman scores a man-down goal to make it 7-1 Mount Sinai. with 6:36 left.

Time out Mustangs with 8;25 left in the third. We should be able to finish the game with out he

Mustangs lead 6-1 at the half. There is a threat or lightening 10 miles away, bu the game is official.

Zoly makes two straight terrific saves. Mount Sinai still leads 5-1 with 1:42 left in the half.

GOAL -- Connor Fitzgerald puts in a rebound after two straight saves to extend the Mustangs lead to 5-1 with 4:56 left.

GOAL -- Shane Henry scores low to increase the lead to 4-1 with 6:40 left.

Zoly makes a great point blank save with 8:15 left

Slashing penalty on Connor Fitzgerald. Mount Sinai is a man down at 11:41.

Mustangs lead 3-1 after thef first quarter.

GOAL -- James O'Brien scores on a shot to the top right corner from the right side. Mount Sinai leads 3-1.

Mt. Sinai Time Out with 2:42 left in the first

GOAL -- Corning East goals. Mt. Sinai leads 2-1 with 4:30 left.

GOAL -- Langton scores on a run to the right side.

TV Time out

GOAL -- Bongiorno scores on a pas from Jonathan Hoeg. Mt. Sinai leads 1-0 with 7:40 left.