Notebook: NCAA Lax Quarterfinals

With the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse quarterfinals at Hofstra University Saturday came a plethora of Long Island natives back home for the day.

Multiple Patch town residents were on the field at Shuart Stadium trying to get into the final four next weekend in Baltimore.

Games

• No. 7 Virginia 13, No. 2 Cornell 9
• No. 6 Denver 14, No. 3 Hopkins 9

Patch players/coaches

• Rob Pannell, Cornell/Smithtown West: 3 goals, 10 shots, 2 groundballs
• Tom Keith, Cornell/Syosset: 2 groundballs
• Tom Freshour, Cornell/Smithtown East: 1 groundball
• Doug Tesoriero, Cornell/Syosset: 1 assist, 7 groundballs and 15-for-24 on face offs
• Nick O’Reilly, Virginia/South Side: 2 goals, 1 assist and 3 groundballs
• John Walker, Virginia/Hills West, assistant coach
• Bill Tierney, Denver/Levittown, head coach

South Side’s O’Reilly plays big

O’Reilly was integral in Virginia’s victory. He scored two goals, added an assist and picked up three ground balls.

“They were shutting off Matt [White] with a short stick and Nick is a hair quicker,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “We could get the ball a little bit easier. We wanted to see if we could make a play and made a couple immediately. We’re mixing and matching our personnel a little bit.”

Virginia’s Starsia Sets Record

Starsia, a Long Island native from Valley Stream, recorded career win No. 327, passing Jack Emmer for the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse mark.

“I don’t think much about it in terms of coming back here until we hit the bridges,” said Starsia of coming back to the island. “It’s very special for me that it comes against a program like Cornell at this place in the NCAA quarterfinals.”

Hofstra sets attendance mark

The total attendance at Shuart Stadium was 13,447 Saturday. This is the seventh time Hofstra has hosted the quarterfinals. The previous high was 12,000-plus. 

Quote roll

Starsia on the win: ““We started out slowly, feeling our way a little but in the beginning. We couldn’t have scripted the second quarter any better. We talked about making the most of those opportunities.”

Cornell coach Ben DeLuca on the loss:  “When they had opportunities they put it in the back of the net. “They played as good as I’ve seen them play in the last few weeks. We helped them in that cause by making some poor decisions in the first half.”

Smithtown native Rob Pannell on the loss: “We couldn’t get a run going. We couldn’t get into any flow and that was to Virginia’s credit. It’s been a great year for Cornell lacrosse.”

Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala on the loss: “You can’t come back like that. We spent so much energy coming back, then they get one or two and you have to fight back again. It was a good year that ended on a bad note.”

Denver coach Bill Tierney on the win: “For some reason today was our day. The players kept playing hard, they kept battling. They made believers out of me that’s for sure. It’s pretty overwhelming. The only ones who don’t seem to get overwhelmed are the 44 guys I coach.”