Sports

Ward Melville Boys' Lacrosse Stifles Smithtown East

Smithtown East ends its season with its best finish since 2007.

Ward Melville used an early scoring rush to grab the lead and never let go en route to a 14-6 win over Smithtown East in Friday's Class A boys' lacrosse semifinal.

The Patriots, who entered the game not just the No. 1 seed in the playoffs but also the No. 1 team in the country according to Laxpower.com, led 6-1 in the second half before Smithtown cut the lead to 6-3.

Heading into the game, Smithtown East coach Jason Lambert said the goal was to focus on winning face-offs, clear the ball well, prevent turnovers and pick up ground balls.

"Unfortunately, we didn't succeed too much in those four areas," he said. "You give the No. 1 team in the country all those extra possessions, they're very hard to stop and slow down."

Ward Melville led 8-3 at halftime, with a 22-13 advantage in shots taken. The halftime score closely resembled that of the teams' first matchup this season – which Ward Melville also won by a score of 14-6.

Danny Bucaro and Christian Mazzone opened the scoring in the third quarter to give Ward Melville its largest lead of the game at 10-3.

"At that point it could have been over, but [Smithtown East] really responded well," Ward Melville coach Mike Hoppey said. "They scored two and had a number of really good opportunities to make it a game."

Scotty Scannell and Jimmy Tenbrink each scored twice to lead Smithtown East (15-4).

Bucaro and Mazzone each finished with four goals and Brendan Hegarty scored three to lead Ward Melville (18-0), who will now face the winner of the No. 2 Smithtown West/No. 3 Northport game next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Stony Brook University.


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