(Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)
by Chris Detwiler
Every team wants to win a championship. For Manhasset, that goal is realistic every year.
Manhasset High School lacrosse came up just short of that goal in 2018, losing to Garden City in the Conference B championship.
“We had a… disappointing end to the season,” said Manhasset head coach Keith Cromwell.
The silver lining? The team’s core will remain roughly the same after a 14-6 season that included the championship appearance.
“We had a young team,” Cromwell said. “A lot of those guys are returning. We have a big group of seniors this year that have all played a lot of minutes.”
The returning core includes two All-Americans from last year.
Leading the charge is senior Ed Arnolds, the captain defenseman.
“He’s a good leader,” Cromwell said. “He knows the competition. He led the charge [for us] last year.”
“It’s good to have him back this year,” he added.
Supplementing Arnolds as leaders on the team are seniors Chris Glyna and Louis Perfetto.
Glyna, a midfielder, has been playing varsity since his freshman year, giving him invaluable experience heading into his final season.
“To have him back as a senior is just a nice compliment to [Arnolds],” Cromwell said.
Glyna is committed to play at Georgetown next season.
Perfetto, an attacker, has two years of varsity experience under his belt.
“He’s developed greatly in the last two years,” Cromwell said. “He’ll be a leader for us this year.”
Aidan Mulholland leads the underclassmen. Although he’s only a sophomore, the Michigan commit has been playing on the varsity level since eighth grade.
“He’s an exciting player to watch,” Cromwell said. “[He’s] extremely athletic, extremely strong.”
“[Mulholland] creates a lot of havoc from the midfield position,” he added.
Junior Marc Psyllos is also a crucial piece to the puzzle.
“[He] does a heck of a job at the faceoff X,” Cromwell said. “He’s just invaluable for us.”
Cromwell knows that something needs to change in order to take that final step this season.
“The one big thing is team camaraderie,” he said. “We did a lot of offseason workouts to bond.”
“They come to work every day,” he added.
In Conference B, Cromwell says nothing comes easy.
“We obviously have a job to do.”
