Suffolk County Lax Playoff Brackets Released

The Suffolk County boy's lacrosse playoff brackets were released Tuesday afternoon. Both Sachem High Schools East and North clinched playoff spots this season.

Sachem North Boys Lacrosse: No. 6 North (9-5, Division I) will host No. 11 Northport (5-7) Thursday at 4 p.m. in the first round of the Class A Suffolk County boy's lacrosse tournament. 

"We are very excited about the opportunity for the seond year in a row to host a playoff game," said North coach Jay Mauro. "Northport is a great team who is well coached and we are going to have to bring our 'A' game to come out with a victory."

Having lost four of their last five and three consecutive games, Mauro said his team needs to get back to its roots, "which is attacking the cage with a purpose, groundballs and playing sound defense."

"We are putting the regular season in the past and moving into this new season," he said.

About Northport: It has dropped six of its last eight games, including the last one to No. 1 West Islip, 17-5. Its most amount of goals in a game came against Brentwood in the season-opener when it won, 16-2.

Brian Finnegan, Mike Strebel and Matt Caroll have been Northport's biggest scoring threats all season. If Sachem can shut all three down, it should have a smooth transition into the quarterfinal round.

The winner of that game will play No. 3 Smithtown West (11-3), who received a first-round bye, Tuesday, May 25 at 4 p.m. on the road. 

Sachem East Boys Lacrosse: No. 10 East (8-6) will travel to No.7 Smithtown East (8-6) Thursday at 4 p.m.

East is coming off a high note, beating Longwood in the regular season finale, 13-7, to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2007.

About Smithtown East: Lost to heated rival Smithtown West, 7-6, Monday night, but went 5-1 in the previous six games. It beat Sachem East, 15-5, back on May 1. Adam Hull had five goals and an assist for the Bulls. 

"Looking back at the video, we played better than we thought," said East coach Rob Murphy about his team's previous battle against the Bulls. "Our shooting was off cage. We shoot on cage and it is a different game. They are very talented, that's why they were ranked higher then us in the pre-season.

"There is no secret between the teams.  We all scout each other. Hopefully we will go out and play four full quarters of lacrosse, and it will be a close game."

The winner of that game plays No. 2 Ward Melville (11-1) Tuesday, May 25 at 4 p.m. on the road. Melville also received a first-round bye.

Girls lacrosse brackets will be released Wednesday, May 19 and baseball and softball will be released later in the week.