The Manhasset Sixth Grade Lacrosse teams coached by Dan Corcoran, Frank Coughlin, Kevin Conway, and Ron Gallo completed a successful season with their final game against perennial powerhouse, the Long Beach Mariners. The Sixth Grade Long Beach team has remained undefeated throughout their four-year PAL travel lacrosse career. In fact the only teams which have pushed Long Beach to the brink of defeat have been Manhasset's two travel lacrosse teams. In each of their third, fourth, and fifth grade years, Long Beach has been able to win by margins of only one or two goals. This year, unfortunately, Manhasset's boys in orange and blue once again fell just short, even though they went down swinging. In a game that Manhasset led for much of the first half and which was tied until late in the third quarter, Manhasset fell by a score of 6-4. Nevertheless, Manhasset's Sixth Grade squad came out winners, as each and every boy made an extraordinary effort to snap the league leader's four-year unbeaten streak.

Manhasset drew first blood as a streaking Dylan McGoldrick took a Craig Matteo feed and hit pay dirt at 2:53 in the first quarter. Manhasset and Long Beach traded goals, as Long Beach found a way to answer each Manhasset tally. Billy Coughlin's hard bounce shot off a precision Tyler Corcoran pass put the score at 2-1 with 5:26 left to play in the second quarter, only to see the score knotted at 2-2, just 32 seconds later. Tyler Corcoran's, unassisted, spinning and twisting goal put Manhasset up 3-2 until Long Beach intercepted a Manhasset feed and scored with only 9 seconds left in the half. The score stood at 3-3 in the second half until Tyler Corcoran again dented the twines with another unassisted beauty, moving Manhasset in front again by a 4-3 score. Manhasset's loyal fans enjoyed that lead for less than 30 seconds as Long Beach's explosive fast break evened the score at 4-4.

Despite the final outcome, the game was in many ways a tribute to the success of this group of boys. They played Long Island's best sixth grade team to a near draw, despite the final score, and demonstrated great skills, tremendous effort, and real character in chasing ground balls, passing the ball, hustling upfield, playing tenacious defense, and supporting their teammates. Manhasset should be proud of this group of lacrosse players and, more importantly, should be pleased at the fine young men they have become.

It should be noted that the defense of Manhasset was the hallmark of this year's team. Manhasset's defense was led by Lukasz Mosakowski in goal, with ironclad support from Billy Coughlin, Patrick Lyons, Richard Parsons, Paul Pate, and Alex Yakaitis. Billy Coughlin deserves special note for breaking into the leadership ranks of the scoring totals, despite playing defense for much of the season.

The scoring totals for this season were as follows: Bryan Kane (11 goals, 4 assists, 15 points), Tyler Corcoran (7 goals, 7 assists, 14 points), Dylan McGoldrick (9 goals, 3 assists, 12 points), Ryan Conway (6 goals, 5 assists, 11 points), Billy Coughlin (4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points), Ryan Clarke (1 goal, 5 assists, 6 points), Greg Cunningham (4 goals, 4 points), Joe Lovas (3 goals, 1 assist, 4 points), Matt Gallo (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 points), Craig Matteo (2 assists, 2 points), and Andrew Morici (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points).

One final note: Coach Dan Corcoran, who will be moving to Connecticut with his family this summer, deserves special recognition for the time and effort he has put into coaching Manhasset PAL lacrosse over the last four years. He has coached two different teams for the last two years and coached nearly every boy in the current sixth grade class over the last four years. Dan has poured his heart and soul into teaching the game he loves to Manhasset boys, and we are indebted to him for his dedication. We wish Dan, Barbara, and the Corcoran clan all the best!

The Third Grade Lacrosse team coached by Ron Connors, Harry Baugher, Kevin Conway, and Gene Golden defeated a feisty squad from West Islip by a score of 8-6. This win, in their final contest of the season, was one of the third grade lax crew's best efforts to date, as Manhasset played four solid quarters of exceptional team lacrosse.

Manhasset brought a diversified, swarming offense to bear on West Islip, jumping in front just 26 seconds into the game on an unassisted Matt Conway goal. Sean Connors made the lead 2-0 on his own unassisted goal, this one coming off of one of his 8/9 successful face offs. West Islip stayed closed but faced a 5-3 deficit at halftime after goals by Matt Conway, Michael Heenan, and Evan Reade. Matt Woop's assist of Conway's second goal was impressive as Woop scooped the ball deep in the Manhasset defensive zone, scampered up the sideline in front of the cheering Manhasset bench, dodged two West Islip defenders, and found an open Matt Conway for a goal. Connors repeated his face off, sprint, dodge, and score move early in the third quarter to push the lead to 6-3. Goals by Conway and an unassisted Jonathan Tompkins goal rounded out the Manhasset scoring. Manhasset's scoring came from Sean Connors (2 goals, 1 assist), Matt Conway (3 goals), Michael Heenan (1 goal, 1 assist), John Maimone-Medwick (1 assist), Evan Reade (1 goal), Jonathan Tompkins (1 goal), and Matt Woop (1 assist).

This final win was a true team effort, as each of the boys contributed hustle, tenacious ground ball play, and solid team defense. Frankie Morelli once again led a strong Manhasset defensive effort, with ten saves, anchored by the great defense of Alexander Ardito, Michael Bode, John Maimone-Medwick, Joe Mancini, Mike Puntillo, and Matt Woop. Jonathan Thomas was once again the team's ground ball leader, followed by Connors, Maimone-Medwick, Reade, and Woop. Since his shift to middie from attack, Thomas has set the standard for aggressive ground ball play. Connor Carey, Patrick DePippo, Conor Golden, and John Prufeta added hustle and strong play, while Thomas Gavin and Matt Tompkins worked hard to help press the Manhasset attack.

This West Islip win was a very satisfying conclusion to the third grade boys initial travel lacrosse season. Scoring for the season was as follows: Sean Connors (14 goals, 14 assists), Matt Conway (20 goals, 5 assists), Evan Reade (6 goals, 1 assist), Michael Heenan (2 goals, 3 assists), Matt Tompkins (2 goals, 1 assist), Conor Golden (2 assists), John Prufeta (2 goals), John Tompkins (1 goal, 1 assist), Patrick DePippo (1 goal), John Maimone-Medwick (1 assist), Jonathan Thomas (1 goal), and Matt Woop (1 assist).

Manhasset's defense improved with every game, and some of the best athletes on the team anchored Manhasset's strong defense. Ardito, Bode, Mancini, Maimone-Medwick, Puntillo, and Woop labored in practice under the watchful eye of Coach Baugher, and the hard work paid off. Frankie Morelli became the "secret weapon" in goal, as he kept Manhasset's third grade warriors in game after game all season long.

Manhasset's third grade squad has shown tremendous improvement since the early days of this season when many of the boys struggled with the basics of the game. This year's success bodes well for future Manhasset lacrosse.