The third seeded Port Washington Vikings lost a tough one on a chilly late afternoon matchup against the second seeded Syosset Braves 14-7 when the two teams met at Hofstra University’s James Shuart Stadium in front of a hyped crowd on Wednesday, May 20.
The Vikings finished the season with an outstanding 13-4 overall record. The boys also went 8-2 in their conference. After cutting through sixth seeded Baldwin in the quarterfinals, the Vikings earned a spot against the Braves in the semifinals. This is the second time these two schools faced each other this year. The first matchup took place on March 31 at Schreiber High School, when Syosset edged Port Washington in a very tight 11-10 game. This time around, the game was not as competitive.
Syosset jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it. The Vikings were always playing catch up and only mustered an early 1-1 tie with 6:09 left in the first quarter. That was their only goal in the first, as they trailed 4-1 at the end of the first.
The second quarter went back and forth, with both sides scoring a total of nine goals. However, Port Washington still trailed 9-5 going into the half.
The second half was more of a defensive battle compared to the offensive first half. Both teams traded two goals each, making it 11-7 Braves going into the final quarter. Syosset then pulled away and scored the three lone goals in the fourth to put the game out of reach, eventually winning 14-7.
Although it was disappointing for his team, Vikings Head Coach Tom Rooney had his boys hold their heads up high.
“It’s unfortunate. We haven’t had a lot of bad days,” said Rooney. “Today was a bad day.”
While the high hopes of advancing to the finals didn’t come through for the Vikings, the season was still a successful one.
“This loss doesn’t diminish what a great year these guys had,” said Rooney.
For the Vikings, Luke Cummings recorded a hat trick, Brian Crawley scored twice and Ryan Garry and Seth Obadia each added a goal apiece. Christian Athanasian had two assists and Joey Froccaro had one assist on the day. Goaltender Nicky Ferraro made 10 saves.
“Nicky always comes to play,” said Rooney. “He stood up in the cage and played great.”
While it’s never a good feeling to go out on a losing note, Rooney feels that this team was one of the best to come through the high school lacrosse program. He also had nothing but praise for the support of his team from the community.
