This week’s prime time girls and boys lacrosse matchups will all be in support of Autism.  Four boys teams and four girls teams will square up on Wednesday and Thursday in support of the cause.  Since April is Autism Awareness month, it’s great to see local high schools using their sports teams to help raise awareness.  Donations for the cause will be accepted at the gates before every game.  All proceeds will benefit the Spectrum of Dreams Foundations and Sachem Students with Special Needs.  At every game, food and drinks will be available along with “Laxin’ for Autism” t-shirts.  On top of that, there will be activities for kids, youth lacrosse halftime games, and a 50/50 raffle.  Hopefully, people will come down and watch some great lacrosse games while showing support for a great cause.

The game which will kick off the Laxin’ for Autism day will be on Wednesday, April 19th at 4:30 pm between Sachem East and Northport. Sachem East is 4-4 on the season as of now. Wednesday is a great opportunity for this team to capture their first quality win of the season.  All four of their W’s this year were to “middle of the pack” teams and they seemed to struggle against the powerhouse schools. If leading scorers Jake Kelleher and Pete Engelken can continue to step up for East, they’ve got a shot to beat some of the higher seeds in Suffolk A. Starting Long Stick Midfielder, Chris Kouimanis, is a beast between the lines and can really get East going in transition. 

On the other side of the bench, you have Northport, who sits at 2-4 and is hoping to gain some kind of momentum.  Similar to Sachem East, Northport has had a tough time capturing a quality win against a powerhouse school. This season, Northport has fallen to Syosset, West Islip, Ward Melville, Huntington, and Connetquot. Even though Northport hasn’t beaten a quality opponent of late, they have been in every game. Justin Roderka is leading the way with 22 goals and 5 assists on the season, putting him in the top 20 in goals on the Island. Despite Roderka putting up points, Northport has lost to Syosset, West Islip, and Ward Melville by a combined 10 goals, including a one-goal loss Syosset to open the season. If Northport can start clicking offensively and win the close game, they will go from knocking on the door to beating down quality opponents such as Sachem East and the rest of Suffolk A. 

Following the East v. Northport game will be Sachem North facing-off against Huntington at 7:00 pm on the Stadium field.  Sachem North is 3-2 on the year, suffering two tough losses where they lost by 2 goals or less.  Led by James Avanzato (Maryland Commit) and Anthony Coppola (Binghamton Commit), North is a team that is young and under the radar. If you get these two studs going early, North can put up serious points on the scoreboard. They will have to be weary for opponents shutting off Avanzato & Coppola. If that’s the case, their young attack will have to step-up. Brothers, Frank & Christian Quadrino work alongside big righty finisher Connor Griffin. Those three are crafty, work well in tandem, and have high lacrosse iqs. North has some solid two-way middies, including Scott Smith, which should lead to some transition goals. A steady defense lead by seniors Ryan McAllister, John Mandola, and net-minder Mike Inzone, North has quality talent at all positions.

James Avanzado of Sachem North driving from X against in conference opponent Commack. Photo by FLG Lacrosse, Inc.

Huntington is 2-5, as they are trying to stay alive and hopefully cause some problems for a good under the radar team in Sachem North. Don’t be deceived by the Blue Devils 5 losses. They’ve gone through a buzz-saw early on this season. With opponents like Ward Melville, West Islip, Connetquot, and cross-town rival Cold Spring Harbor, it’s obvious that Huntington is making sure they can play some of the best teams prior to Conference play. Garrett Moya has 30 points on the season. His balanced game provides some stability and consistency for the Devils. You have to respect Huntington’s push to play some of the best talent on the island. But, if this team wants to demand respect from the conference and fans, they’ve got to start knocking off these top teams. 

On Thursday, April 20th the girls Laxin’ For Autism day will draw-off between Sachem East and Northport.  The Sachem East girls squad is 3-3 on the year as they dominated Commack, Brentwood, and Floyd. However, they took their lumps in their 3 losses as they lost all three of those games by at least 9 goals. Leading scorer, Morgan Benedectis will have to step-up is East has any chance against a young, but highly talented Northport group.

Northport is cruising in 2017, as they are currently 5-0 and have bullied every team played.  Olivia Carner and Danielle Pavinelli have asserted themselves as stars this year. Carner is a sophomore committed to Duke University and Pavinelli is a freshman committed to play at Florida University.  Both girls have excellent styles of play and intelligence out on the field and have asserted Northport as a powerhouse team. Carner is top 20 in Suffolk in points and Pav top 30. If Northport’s Emerson Cabrera can continue filling up the goal, Northport should have no problem remaining undefeated in 2017. 

Olivia Carner of Northport set to take a free-position shot against West Islip earlier this season. Photo by FLG Lacrosse, Inc.

Following the 4:30 PM game, Sachem North will go up against Ward Melville in what hopes to be a great game.  Sachem North is 4-2 on the year while suffering a close loss to Smithtown West and Northport.  If you don’t already know about Eve Calabria, you should definitely tune into this game and see what she does. Eve is top 5 in Suffolk County in points, with over 20 goals and 24 assists. Calabria has been committed to Bucknell since her freshman year. Being the daughter to Syosset Men’s Lacrosse Head Coach, John Calabria, you know Eve plays with superior lacrosse IQ and toughness. Goal scorers Hailey Rhatigan & Grace Lipponer could be keys to this game as North looks to get their best win of the year.

Meanwhile, Ward Melville is 5-0 and have comfortably won every game. Similar to Northport, Ward Melville is filled with talented girls who know how to play the game at a high level. Earlier this season, Melville upset number 1 ranked Middle Country. This game turned some heads and got lacrosse fans talking about Ward Melville as a legit contender in Suffolk. Ward Melville is very well coached and play incredibly well as a unit. No one player dominates the game, but collectively they put together complete games that make playing them a difficult task. 

We are looking forward to a great two days of lacrosse and hopefully, lots of money raised to support Autism. Be sure to follow FLG Lacrosse on social media to see video, photos, live updates, interviews, and our String King players of the game! 

Going into this prime-time matchup between Smithtown East vs West, most if not all of us were expecting two high power offenses to flex their muscles and demonstrate their abilities to fill up the goal. In front of a sold-out stadium, with the West fans on one side and the East fans on the other, it was team defense and unbelievable goalie play that defined this game.  A 7-5 finish in favor of Smithtown East was led by Thomas Harkin, the uncommitted reclassified 2018, with 18 save. Harkin was virtually unbeatable,  saving everything high, possessing great footwork along with great hand-eye coordination. If you ask Harkin, we would say his 18 saves was a result of, “the defense talked a lot, 2-slides, hot-slides, we were really communicating and our defense made me look a lot better.” Talk about a team player. On the other side of the field was Ryan Erler, the Senior Stony Brook Commit, who only had 6 saves but every one of those kept West in the game.  Without Erler in net, this game would have been a blowout for the Bulls of the East.

The big three, Desimone, Eschbach, and Burns, for Smithtown East were surprisingly quiet, combining for only 3 points on the day. Desimone did a nice job in the clearing game, riding game, and in transition. With that said,  it was Sean Barry and Michael Latini that asserted themselves as dominant players on the offensive end of the field.  In FLG’s post game interview, Latini said: “It was important for us to play fast in transition but to settle it down so we could have full possessions and run our set offenses”.  Both Barry & Latini has great stick skills and an intelligence about their game to know where the slides are coming from. These two studletes combined for 6 points on the day and really propelled their group to maintain a lead that was never given away.

As for West, Connor Calderone, the Sophomore Maryland Commit, obliterated everyone East threw at him on the face-off X.  The sophomore won 11 face-offs only losing 3. This allowed for West to dominate time of possession throughout the game.  However, it was Smithtown West’s lack of offensive cohesiveness that led to rushed possessions and undesirable shots on goal. Shots right to HArkin’s stick resulted in tired middies and a frustrated offensive unit. East now sitting at 4-2, and is poised to make a run at a County Championship. While West is sitting at 4-3, they still have all the attributes to be a powerhouse team. If they can click offensively and continue to dominant at the X, they can run deep in Suffolk Class A.