Jack Petersen had all the motivation he needed.
The Manhasset junior saw little playing time last season, and wanted to prove why he deserves to be out on the field. The midfielder also knew his Indians boys lacrosse team was doubted by many. But that was all about to change.
Petersen scored three goals and had two assists to power Manhasset to a 12-7 win over Mt. Sinai for the Long Island Class C championship title at Hofstra University Saturday. The win, the Indians’ (15-4) seventh straight, snapped the Mustangs (18-1) undefeated streak.
“Going in as an underdog — we had nothing to lose — allowed us to go out there with a lot of energy,” Petersen said. “Last year, I didn’t get as many minutes. I was watching from the sidelines, mostly. So to be able got be out there and help my team feels amazing.”
The junior said he and his teammates also kept a late one-goal title game loss last season in the back of their minds. Syracuse-bound senior Joey Spallina, the top lacrosse recruit in the nation who leads Long Island in scoring and broke the all-time points record in the Mustangs’ Suffolk County championship victory, won the 2021 Long Island crown for Mt. Sinai on a last-second goal.
“That loss was heartbreaking,” Petersen said. “So we’ve been waiting for this game all year.”
And the Indians showed that as they came out firing on all cylinders. Following a Spallina-to Lucas Laforge goal, senior midfielder Joey Terenzi tied it, and junior midfielder Liam Connor (three goals) recorded back-to-back scores to give Manhasset its first lead.
But Spallina (one goal, five assists) found Cole Marsala twice to tie the game at 3-all at the end of the first, and Jake Spallina took the lead back for Mt. Sinai at the 10:28 mark of the second quarter.
Manhasset wasn’t going to let the counter-spurt deflate them, though, as Terenzi hit Petersen and senior attack Matt Perfetto to give the Indians a 6-5 edge heading into halftime.
“We took some tough losses against some really good teams this year, but we stuck together,” Perfetto said. “And it was all worth it, because we learned, we grew, and we’re here now.”
The next 24 minutes is where things really turned for Manhasset. Sophomore goalkeeper Matt Im (seven saves) made back-to-back stops that ignited the crowd, the second of which led to the possession that propelled Petersen to his second score. Off the ensuing faceoff, junior Cal Girard caught the Mustangs offguard with a scoop-and-score of his own win for an 8-5 Indians lead.
Spallina hit senior James Carretta before a Brayden Wilcken save, and scored swinging around the back of the cage with 11:11 left to play to make it a one-goal game, but it was as close as Mt. Sinai would come.
Manhasset, which held the ball for five minutes after a Perfetto-to-Hunter Panzik goal, scored the final four of the game, with Perfetto hitting his mark after his feed, and Petersen rocking the cage with an empty-netter.
“Jack Petersen is our guy,” said Terenzi, Inside Lacrosse’s No. 3 recruit in the nation who is headed to Virginia next season. “He was the best player on the field today.”
“For me, I’ve been lucky to be in front of some really awesome leaders,” he continued, “but this is by far the biggest win I’ve ever had. Two more to go.”
Petersen said it all came down to conditioning.
“At practices we’re always at the end lines working hard — we took it seriously — and we could see why we’re doing it — it’s to be able to leave it all out there in a game like this,” he said. “We had great ball movement, no one was being selfish, and we weren’t even thinking about who was getting the ball. It was all about letting the opportunities come to us to score.”
Manhasset moves on to play Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in a state semifinal at the University at Albany Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
“We felt like not that many people believed in us, but we believed in ourselves,” Perfetto said. “If we keep playing our game, I don’t think anyone can stop us.”
