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Port Washington lacrosse loses heartbreaker in county title game to Massapequa

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Port Washington goalie Max Eynon lunges for a save during the Class A title game Saturday at Hofstra. Photo credit: James Maguire/Skybox Images
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Port Washington’s Will Ahmuty (6 in blue) scores the first goal of the game during Port Washington’s 9-7 loss to Massapequa Saturday in the Class A title game. Photo credit: James Maguire/Skybox Images

Because the difference between winning and losing was so small, the devastation was even greater.

The Port Washington boys lacrosse team had a fantastic season, winning 15 games under first-year coach Glenn Lavey.

It arrived Saturday at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium, having vanquished two-time defending county champs Farmingdale in the semis and the Vikings played Massapequa absolutely even through 45 minutes of a thrilling game.

But with the score 7-7, it was the Chiefs who made the final few plays to win the game and came away with a 9-7 triumph in the Class A championship game.

When it was over, after Port Washington had shaken hands and trudged out to the locker room, it was obvious how much the Vikings were suffering. Most players shed tears, and their parents did their best to console them.

To come that close ….

“Yeah, I’m proud of our season, but the goal is to win,” said junior Jimmy Gannon. “We didn’t quite do it. But we’ll be back next year.”

The hundreds of fans were treated to a fantastic battle; neither team ever led by more than a goal until Massapequa’s final goal.

Both teams squandered opportunities on offense, and both got sensational games from their goalies (Port Washington sophomore Max Eynon had nine saves, while the Chiefs’ Michael Jannotte had eight.)

It was 3-3, then 4-4, then 5-5, and when the Vikings’ Liam McCarvill scored with 6:48 left, blasting a low shot past goalie Michael Jannotte,  evening the game at 7, it looked like this one might need overtime.

“I thought we were outplayed a lot of the night, but we were going to steal it at the end, that’s how I felt,” Lavey said. “It hurts when it comes down to just a couple ground balls, a couple plays at the end.”

Finally, with just more than three minutes left, the game turned for good. A loose ball about 10 yards from Eynon was scooped by Nolan Wieczorek, who fired a low shot into the goal to give Massapequa the lead.

A goal by J.P. Byrnes with 2:17 left clinched the win.

“You sometimes give the other guys credit; at winning time, they made really big plays,” Lavey said. “It’s not what we didn’t do, it’s what they did.”

“Some groundballs went the way we didn’t want them to go,” Gannon said. “They picked up some hard ones, all credit to them, but we could’ve come up with some of them.”

Jacob Apat scored two goals for Port Washington (15-4), and Eynon was fantastic in the net, making several key saves in the fourth.

Will Ahmuty, Brendan Lang, Dylan Buckley, Harry Eynon and McCarvill also scored for the Vikings.

For Lavey, the loss left him wanting more season.

“I feel like we just ran out of time. We were still improving as the season was going on. There’s a lot more inside all these guys, I’m just grateful I had the opportunity to coach them.”