Northport Boys Lax Topples Sachem East

The Northport boys lacrosse team has its sights set on hosting a playoff game later this month, and in order to do that, the Tigers knew it couldn’t slip up against the lower-seeded Arrows of Sachem East.

Although the performance wasn’t perfect, it was good enough. Northport cashed in on its extra-man opportunities throughout the game, riding a four-goal efforts by Matt Carroll and Sean Gilroy to record an important 16-11 victory at Veterans Park.

“We had to win to position ourselves for a good seed and be in the running for a home game,” Tigers head coach George Searing said. “We made some mental errors, but we have some young guys on the team, and that’s what happens sometimes. Today wasn’t one of our better games, but we’re heading in the right direction.”

Northport (5-5, 5-4 Division I) entered the day ranked No. 11 in Division I, with East just two spots, and less than seven power points behind. The win ended a two-game skid for the Tigers, while it ended East’s two-game win streak. Northport had dropped its previous two games to West Islip, which is ranked No. 2 nationally according to MaxPreps and UnderArmour polls, and Connetquot by a combined three goals.

After building a 4-2 lead through one quarter, Northport gained further separation in the second. Four different players scored in a span of four minutes, 25 seconds, to push it to an 8-2 advantage. The final tally in that stretch came when Gilroy intercepted an attempted pass back to East goalie Dennis O’Hara and quickly buried it.

However, as it did all evening, East responded. The Arrows waited for an opportunity to strike and it finally came when Billy Neubert fed Anthony Laureano in close for a score. After a Northport violation for pushing with possession, Neubert zipped a pass from behind the cage to Chris MacAneney, and he scored with four seconds remaining in the quarter.

The Arrows (3-8, 3-6) had put up double-digit goals in three games prior to Wednesday, including 16 in a rout of Copiague last Friday, head coach Rob Murphy called his team’s effort “the best offensive game we’ve played all year.”

As resilient as East was, the Tigers never allowed the visitors to get too close. After rattled one in off the post for a 9-4 lead early in the third, Northport’s edge was always five or better. It was never higher than seven.

Both Carroll and Gilroy scored a goal in each of the four quarters. Carroll, one of 15 seniors on the team, played attack as a sophomore and junior but has been a key cog in the first team midfield in his final year.

“He’s got nice speed, and it’s a dynamite midfield with him and John Trainor,” Searing said of Carroll and his sophomore middie. “When he sees an opportunity, he goes to the goal and is as good as anyone.”

Trainor, a sophomore like Gilroy, notched a hat trick of his own and added two assists, and Ryan Napolitano chipped in with two goals and a helper. The Tiger attack ran through St. Joe’s (Pa.) bound Matt Sarcona, who recorded six assists. Less than a month ago, Sarcona struck for six goals in a 13-4 win over Middle Country.

For East, Neubert tallied two goals and two assists. A.J. Solomito and John Vigh each had a pair of goals, and the Arrows got multi-point nights from MacAneney (1 goal, 2 assists), Peter Engleken (1 goal, 1 assist) and Eric Martin (1 goal, 1 assist).