Spring is here and so is Lacrosse season. Plainview PAL welcomes back the 3rd and 4th grade team and their coaches. Gerry Lester and Paul Rut are returning for another season, and are being joined by new coaches Dario Rossi and Mike Bergman.

Plainview's Team 2000 is comprised of 11 second year players, as well as 12 first year players. The team is mostly comprised of 4th graders, with the exception of three third graders, Zach Bergman, Jeremy Nagler and Kevin Afonso.

All the boys have worked very hard on their skills and knowledge of the game. With the help of some of the second year players like Greg Lester, Todd Levine and Andrew Carcich that hard work shone through in the Hawks first scrimmage against Bethpage. The team outscored the Bethpage Eagles 9-4. Paul Rut Jr. led the team with three goals, and Mike Bergman had two goals. Ryan Berman, Sean Li, Doug Rossi and Anjelo Austria each had one goal.

The Hawk's defense is big and fearless. Led by Josh Allen, Todd Freidman, Randy Brachman, Howie Heller and Zach Young, they did a superb job of keeping the Bethpage Eagles' offense from shooting on Jason "nothing gets pass-a-through-me" Passafiume.

On Sunday, April 2 the Hawks were not so fortunate as they met up with a strong West Islip team in the season opener. The game was close through three and a half quarters of play when West Islip put the game out of reach by scoring on a Plainview penalty. The lone Plainview goal was scored by Douglas Rossi. The Hawks picked up ground balls, but only had nine shots on goal, not enough to win the game.

The Hawks had their home opener against North Shore. Once again the Hawks showed their Plainview Pride by keeping North Shore on the run the whole game. First year players Brian Freifeld, Ryan Murphy, Scott Drucker and Matt Hudson helped to keep North Shore off balance with their hustle and hard work. Paul Rut, Jr. had two goals, the second of which was made possible by an unbelievable assist from Greg Lester. Greg won the face-off, took control of the ball and made a picture perfect feed to Paul, who turned and shot the ball into North Shore's net. Plainview's third goal came from one of the Hawk's big defensemen, Howie Heller. Howie took the ball from Plainview's restraining line and ran the length of the field in and out of traffic to score the Hawks final goal of the day.

The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday at 9 a.m., so come down and cheer on Plainview's 3rd and 4th grade PAL Lacrosse team. Let's go Hawks, run hard, run fast.