Big City Classic Lacrosse Notebook

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.  -- Over the weekend, countless college lacrosse players who hail from Patch.com towns participated in the Konika Minolta Big City Classic at New Meadowlands Stadium.

Here's a look at some notes from the day:

Games played

• Game 1: St. John's 9, Rutgers 8
• Game 2: Johns Hopkins 10, North Carolina 9
• Game 3: Syracuse 13, Duke 11

West Islip impact:  Sitting amongst some of his teammates and head coach John Danowski, West Islip native Ryan Flanagan, the co-National Defenseman of the Year in 2010 and anchor of an explosive defense, calmly answered questions about Duke’s narrow loss and what it meant to be back on the big stage in Jersey once again. 

“It’s a lot of fun to get back here,” he said.  “The kids love it.  For the kids to hear stories and then finally put a face to the name, I wish we could have put out a better performance.  But it was a good game.”

It was a rare off-game for freshman Nick Galasso, who leads the team in points with 37. He never even attempted a shot on goal.

“I don’t think there was one particular guy to shut down Nick," Tar Heels head coach Joe Breschi said.  “Nick was probably pressing a little bit.  It’s tough to play in front of this crowd as a young guy. I think for him it was a combination of their whole defensive scheme.”

Duke’s Justin Turri, another West Islip grad, had his streak of 23-straight games with a point ended on Sunday night against top-ranked Syracuse. The redshirt junior was unable to get on the board, with a few shots hitting pipe and barely missing.

Danowski loves tri-state area: Danowski made his name on Long Island, building the Hofstra lacrosse program up before taking the head job at Duke. The East Meadow alum and Farmingdale resident - when he's not in Durham - will be back on Long Island this weekend when Duke plays Denver at Bethpage High School. 

"I spent most of my life on Long Island," he said. "Long Island is still home. I have a lot of great friends from here and respect the lacrosse community so much where I was weined. Whenever I have an opportunity to get back, we will certainly jump at it."

His son Matt, who played at Farmingdale High School and Duke, was in attendance helping ESPNU with the broadcast.

Huntington's Howell leads Duke: Zach Howell was a stud on the football and lacrosse teams at Huntington High School and will go down as one of the best athletes in school history. It was not shocking to see him lead Duke with four goals and two assists, including two scores in the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils made a late game surge against No. 1 Syracuse. It was a thrill for him to play so close to home.

"Growing up I was a huge Giants fan and this is a dream come true playing in Giants Stadium," he said. "Obviously it didn’t work out as well as we would have liked it to. We did make a lot of mistakes in the first half. We kept playing hard and started executing and things started going our way."

Garden City well represented: The Trojans had an alum on the roster for each game. Tim Harder plays for Syracuse, Gavin Crisafulli plays for Hopkins, and Harry Kutner and Jon Muscarella play for St. John's.

Sachem's Cody Petillo watches Rutgers: Cody Petillo doesn't graduate from Sachem North until 2012, but the junior has verbally committed to play with Rutgers and was in attendance watching the Scarlet Knights lose to St. John's.

Patch.com native point totals

Syracuse

• Tom Palasek, Rocky Point: 2 assists, 2 shots on goal
• Tim Harder, Garden City: 1 goal, 1 shot, 1 ground ball, 1-for-5 facing off

Duke

• Justin Turri, West Islip: 5 shots, no points
• Zach Howell, Huntington: 4 goals, 2 assists, 1 ground ball
• Jimmy O’Neil, Huntington/Chaminade: 1 caused turnover
• Eddie Loftus, Syosset
• Sean Brady, Huntington Bay
• Matt Kunkel, Ward Melville

North Carolina

• Steven Rastivo, Ward Melville: 1 ground ball, 1 caused turnover
• Matt Davie, Syosset: 1 shot
• Nick Galasso, West Islip: 1 assist, 1 ground ball, 1 turnover

Hopkins

• Eric Schneider, Massapequa
• Gavin Crisafulli, Garden City

St. John's

• Matt Hurst, Massapequa: 1 goal, 1 shot, 1 ground ball
• Harry Kutner, Garden City
• Jon Muscarella, Garden City
• Nicholas Manne, Rocky Point
• Brandon Ayers, Lynbrook: 2 ground balls
• Daniel McQuillan, Bellmore, Kellenberg
• Dan Kalata, Smithtown East: 1 ground ball
• Terance Leach, Rockville Centre, St. Dominic