Syosset Lacrosse Annihilates Uniondale

Entering Thursday afternoon the Syosset Braves Lacrosse team had their playoff position all locked up.

All that was left to do for the Braves was close out the regular season against last place Uniondale.

Coach John Calabria elected to give the bulk of the minutes in the game to his senior players. Before the game every senior on the roster was honored by the Syosset Lacrosse program. After the game Senior Jacob Jeifa spoke about the significance of playing his last game in front of the Syosset faithful. “It was special,” Jeifa said. “It was a special way to end the regular season.”

This game was a laugher throughout as Alex Concannon scored the games first of 16 goals just 30 seconds into the opening quarter. Concannon, was not done. Seconds later on a spin move off a defender Concannon ripped a snipe that ended with the ball in the net. “I saw a great chance to score and I just wanted to take advantage of that,” Concannon said after the game.

The annihilation of Uniondale was on from that point on as Andrew Keith (1 goal), Cliff Heller (3 goals), Ryan Hunter (3 goals), and Taylor Kallbacker (1 goal) all scored to make the score 6-0 after the first quarter of play.

Ryan Hunter scored back to back goals within 4 minutes of second quarter to give Syosset their 7th goal on the day. Uniondale would get one back when Chris Martinez fired a shot that went by Braves goalie Matt Alessandri. Alessandri, who was given a chance to start on senior day over star goalie Ryan Feit. After the game Alessandri thanked Syosset head Coach Calabria for the opportunity to start behind the pipes. “I owe it to coach for giving me a chance to finally start,” Alessandri said after the game. I have worked for 2 years on the varsity level and it was nice to be rewarded for that.”

Brett Resnick (1 goal), Frank Buffalino (1 goal), and Jacob Jeifa (1 goal) also scored in the second quarter to give Syosset the 11-1 advantage at the half.

The third quarter of this game will be remembered for a long time by senior Michael Hatzipetrakos who after 2 years of not seeing the field was given a chance to score a goal. Earlier in the day the Syosset Braves Lacrosse team took to twitter to gather support for Hatzipetrakos by tweeting #WeBelieveIn30. The hashtag that the entire team tweeted out refers to Hatipetrakos’ jersey number. The support for Hatzipetrakos went viral as #WeBelieveIn30 gathered over 1000 tweets worth of support and was trending in the New York area. Hatzipetrakos’ dream of scoring a varsity goal came into fruition as he lined up a beautifully timed snipe into the Uniondale net. After the game Hatzipetrakos said how much he appreciated the support that his entire school gave him. “I want to thank my team and all the people who actually supported me on twitter,” Hatzipetrakos said. “It was pretty special to see the amount of people who supported me. I am just glad I was able to score and help the team win.” In a post game interview Coach Calabria spoke about Hatzipetrakos’ big moment. “That particular guy is the heart and soul of our team,” Calabria said. “It was great to see him get an opportunity and capitalize on that opportunity.”

One by one Coach Calabria replaced his seniors on the field so they could each get a thunderous ovation from the proud fans in the stands. After the game Calabria reflected on the play of his seniors. “They work hard every day and set the tone for the younger guys.”

Corey Yaskowitz (1 goal), Anthony Carchietta (1 goal), and James Mackonochie (1 goal) all scored in the 4th quarter to give Syosset the 16-1 victory on senior day.

Syosset will now start their quest towards a Nassau County Championship and will open up the playoffs on May 15th at Hofstra University verses MacArthur.