Syosset Boys Lacrosse Defeats East Meadow, 14-8

So much for the long layoff. A week after returning from a team bonding trip to Maryland, the Syosset Braves defeated the East Meadow Jets 14-8 in a late morning contest at on Monday.

With the win, Syosset improves to 4-1 in Conference I, while East Meadow falls to 4-3. 

The final score is hardly indicative of the offensive dominance that the Braves displayed for the majority of the game. After spending most of the first half playing defense, Syosset exploded in the final five minutes of the second quarter.

John Diaz, D.J Schmieder, and Frank Buffalino all scored in the final five minutes of the first half, turning a tightly played chess match into a 6-1 rout.

“Our main thing was shooting,” Braves coach John Calabria said. “In the first quarter, we shot the ball into the goalies stick about six times. Once our guys cleaned up their shooting a little bit, they put themselves in a better situation to put the ball behind the goalie and into the back of the net.”

Schmieder would find the net again 38 seconds into the third quarter, putting the Braves ahead 7-1. The senior attackman finished with three goals.

Ryan Hunter also added three for Syosset. Hunter broke through East Meadow goalie Dan Wood first, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead with 5:28 left in the first. His second came eight minutes later, putting Syosset up by two.

“Hunter played with a lot of poise today,” Calabria said. “He kind of had a break out game inwardly. He’s been in a situation where he hasn’t understood that this is his offense. After today’s game, he does. Everything runs through him and he’s in a situation where he believes in himself more and I think he achieved that today.”

East Meadow scored five goals in the fourth quarter, capitalizing on Syosset’s second team defense, subbed in once the game got out of hand.  The Braves first team defense gave the Jets constant problems, barely allowing any good offensive looks in the first three quarters.

“Our defense in the first three quarters kind of shut them down,” Calabria said. “Alirio (Demeireles), (Andrew) Tranchina, and (Kyle) Haber kind of took it to them in the first three quarters.”

On offense, East Meadow was led by Dylan Curry, who scored two goals and an assist, and Chris Fuger, who also added two goals. Goalie Dan Wood stopped 14 shots in net for the Jets. 

Hero:  - Once again, Syosset’s star goalie was fantastic. He faced a barrage of shots in the first half, never looking intimidated or out of position. The sophomore shut East Meadow down until Dylan Curry broke through with under two minutes left in the first half. By that time, it was obvious to all that not many more shots would fly into the Syosset net. Feit was pulled due to the lopsided score before East Meadow could consistently find the net.

Turning Point: It didn’t take long to realize that the match-up would be a low scoring one. It appeared that way in the first half, anyway. As unusual a thought as it may have seemed at the time, it was not above reason to think that three or four goals would win the game. That’s what made Rob Storie’s goal with 7:29 left in the first half so huge.

The shot put the Braves up by three and appeared to demoralize East Meadow. Syosset slowly began to control what had been a very even matchup.

Quotable: “It’s always a big game in Conference A (I) because a team like East Meadow has always had two or three quality wins a season,” Calabria said. “They’re going to get them this season, luckily it wasn’t against Syosset. It would have been a quality win for them and wasn’t a game we could afford to lose and have our playoff picture be what it needs to be.”

Bottom Line: Syosset has hit its stride at the right time. A quick look at the standings on Monday morning would have shown the Jets ahead of the Braves. That seemed to be the only thing going for the visitors on this day. Syosset was thoroughly dominant, proving that they not only can play with everyone in the conference, but control the game in the process. 

Key Stat: Eight different Braves scored in the win.

Who’s Next: Baldwin @ Syosset, Friday 4:30pm @ Syosset High School. East Meadow at Herricks, Friday 4:45 p.m. @ Herricks Community Center. 

Scoring

Syosset: Hunter (3), Schmeider (3), Storie (2), Keith (2), Diaz, Buffalino, Cassandro, Resnick  

East Meadow: Curry (2), Fuger (2), Lynch, Pike, Buschi, Bender       

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