On Saturday, April 17, Manhasset's senior division girls lacrosse team (seventh and eighth grades) defeated Massapequa by a score of 9-4. The game was played in a stiff breeze on John Burns field in Massapequa. Kate Donoghue led all scorers with a total of three goals and one assist. Meredith Hotarek added two goals with an assist. Other goals were scored by Kate Breslin, Lyndsey Fee, Mary Galvin and Lindsay Buhr, Buhr and Fee each also added an assist.

Ashley Devins was outstanding in goal with 10 saves. Her accurate passes triggered two fast-break goals for Manhasset. Kristine Kitt and Colleen Regan both played solid defense. Coach Kim Kennedy was pleased with the win and said that the girls are making good progress. They are now 2 and 0, having beaten Huntington last weekend 7-5. The girls have a "bye" next week and hope to play a team from Connecticut.

The Manhasset fourth grade travel team, led by coaches Morrison, Hueglin and O'Connell, roared to its second win of the season and defeated Garden City 13-11 in a bitterly contested game on April 18. The team's first game was a sound 9-3 win over Rockville Centre on April 11.

GC took an early three goal lead in the first quarter. Geoff Horowitz then invigorated the team with a reply goal assisted by Kyle Gans. Manhasset then took three more goals by Gans and Dan Karges, each unassisted, with another goal by Gans on an assist from Karges. GC came back to tie the score 4-4 with 30 seconds to go in the first quarter.

GC came out swinging in an extremely physical second quarter. Manhasset's Stephen Colalillo broke through blistering defenses with an assist from Peter Kratsios. GC then scored two goals. Kratsios replied with an unassisted goal. GC came back with another and Kratsios again had an unassisted goal, ending at the half with a 7-7 tie.

In the third quarter, GC scored a freak goal off goalie James Petracca. Upset with the event, Manhasset executed a steely resolve and scored four more goals, led by Jim Wenk on an assist from Karges. Gans then scored on an assist by Ryan Young, who played a fabulous midfield game with many great checks. Kevin Young, his brother, was equally adept and fired up after taking two excessive checks in the second quarter from GC's leading scorer (leaving a surprised crowd that GC's player was not ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct). Karges then scored another goal with an assist from Ryan Young. Horowitz ended the quarter with an unassisted goal as he broke through two GC defensemen.

Manhasset again scored in the fourth quarter by Kratsios with an assist from Colalillo. GC fought back to score two more goals only to be met with an unassisted goal by Ryan Young. GC then scored another goal shortly before the end of the game.

Manhasset's defense was spectacular, with D.J. Cisek, Robert O'Connell, Ed Conte and David Saunders. Cisek, in particular, along with the Young brothers, boxed up GC's hard-throwing attackmen and Petracca had a number of great saves. Attackmen Ted Himler, Colin Quinn and Karl (Scrappy" Hueglin excelled at setting up plays and breaking up Garden City's attempts at defensive clears. Midfieldmen John Kucharczyk and Brian Morrison similarly rose to meet the extreme challenge of GC's aggressive play.

The third grade team coached by Dan Corcoran and Kevin Cook showed what they were made of as they came back from their previous week's defeat to convincingly beat a strong West Islip team 5-2. The team's 8-2 loss to Syosset stirred the boys on to work extra long and hard to correct the prior week's mistakes.

At Wednesday's practice, when these determined third graders were out of daylight, they ran wind sprints in the dark. Friday they practiced in the pouring rain. On Sunday morning West Islip faced a team ready to play lacrosse.

The Manhasset defense, led by hard hitting Nick Petracca, Drew Keneally and Anthony Loschiavo, did an excellent job of protecting goalie Chris Musalo. Chris's numerous saves kept the West Islip team to one goal for three periods. Offensive pressure was unrelenting by the aggressive Manhasset attack. Attackmen Alex Yakaitis, Tyler Corcoran and A. J. Pegno, along with midfielders Joe Lovas, Dylan McGoldrick and Rick DeCicco, worked as a unit, running plays practiced during the week. Goals were scored by Joe Lovas, Dylan McGoldrick and the team's high scorer to date, Tyler Corcoran. A goal by Greg Cunningham set up by a pass from Alex Yakaitis, who passed from behind the West Islip goal, was disallowed on a disputed technicality.

Midfielders Kyle Geiger, James Barrett, Richard Parsons, Shea Licata did an excellent job of forcing West Islip to lose possession of the ball.

Richard Minieri, Erick Gadaleta, James Caginalp, Max Waldron and Marc Ardito did a fine job of playing at whatever position they were needed. Manhasset should be proud of these hard working young men who are now a "team." Come cheer them on at next Sunday's game against arch-rival Garden City.

One of the sixth grade Manhasset lacrosse teams opened its 1999 travel team schedule with two impressive victories against perennial rivals Massapequa and Garden City. On Sunday, April 11, Massapequa traveled to Manhasset with their large and experienced team. By dominating the middle of the field, Manhasset was able to come away with a 6-3 victory. Chris Duffy led the scoring with three goals, while Mark Shackel, Paul Webber and Cullen Molinari also scored. Chris Peyser anchored the defense with solid help from Sean Parker. Tommy Nolan, Matt Donoghue, Matt McCooey and Rob D'Augustinis controlled the midfield. The big story on this day was the steady work of Patrick Golden, who stepped in to make some great saves in goal.

On the following Sunday, April 18, the team traveled to Garden City. Once again, the goalie was the star of the day, but this time it was the regular goalie, Brian Nelson. In the 5-2 win for Manhasset, Brian made 21 saves, some of them of the spectacular variety. Rock solid defense was the other key to the victory. Chris Peyser, Mark Shackel, Pat Golden, Sean Parker and John Sears played smart "team defense," while Jonathan Belz, J.J. Kennedy and Jeff Hunt made important contributions. Brendan McDonough, Mike Gavalas, Chris Duffy, Cullen Molinari and Mark Shackel scored for Manhasset. The team is coached by Harry Baugher, Spencer Baugher, John Kennedy and Dan Nolan.