The Mineola Chiefs third grade PAL Lacrosse team opened their season on Sunday, April 11 with a 4-3 loss against a tough North Shore club. After being down 4-0, Mineola came back in the second half of play to score three golas to make it an exciting contest. Mineola had possession of the ball in their attack zone for the final two minutes, but could not score on a strong defensive effort of North Shore. Tyler Omage, Chris Brostek and James Tirone scored Mineola's goals. On Attack there was Tommy Flynn with John Small taking several quality shots with Peter Davoran and Patrick Delventhal backing up. On midfield not only playing good offense, but also strong defense were TJ Arenault, Andrew Daniell, Robert Levy, Chris McCune, Anthony Marino, Anthony Morais, Michael Santandreo and James Smith. Defensively playing hard and keeping North Shore's quick midfielders and attackman in front of them were Timmy Deluca, Trevor Landry, Brendan Elrod, Ryan Lee and Ryan Urkiel. Goaltending, which was split between Ryan Lee and Patrick Delventhal, only allowed four goals against a team with some hard inside shots. Mineola's coaches noted that both teams showed great teamwork and good sportsmanship and thanked the parents for their continuing support. The fourth graders fell to North Shore 7-4. Mineola started fast, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, but North Shore came back strong in a closely contended game pulling out three goals late. James Ventura led Mineola with 2 goals. Ryann Pratt had 1 goal, 1 assist, and Joe Lucian had 1 goal. The defensive standouts were Kurt Heteer and Chris Carlin. The Mineola PAL Fifth Grade Chiefs played to a 5-5 tie against a scrappy Massapequa team who came back to tie it in the fourth quarter. Mineola was led by Matt Boyd (2 goals), Tom Orr (2 goals) and Mike Gaffney (1 goal). The defense played well throughout the game with great showings from Dave Fernandez (7 ground balls, 4 clears, 1 assist) and goalie Chris Gregorio (10 saves).

The Mineola PAL Sixth Grade Lacrosse team opened their season with an 8-1 victory over a new Plainedge team. From the opening face off won by Tom Oswald, the Chiefs took control. Kevin Erhardt controlled the ball on the attack with crisp passes all over the field (1 goal, 3 assists). Help on the offense was provided by Anthony Abbatiello and Andrew Jakubek (1 goal). Patrick Gaffney rounded out the attack with 2 assists.

The ball control offense was due to strong play by the midfielders led by Richie Carter (1 goal), Kevin Flaherty (1 goal), Jimmy Clay, Tim Raab (1 assist), Tom Owens and James Buttafuoco. The defense led by Goalie Jimmy Harrison, Mike Harman, Tim Palma, Brian Meade were spectators for much of the day as the action was slow on their end of the field.

The only injury of the day was sustained by Offensive Coach Tom Ritterbusch who twisted his ankle while patting himself on the back for the excellent offensive performance.