Manhasset’s boys lacrosse team was looking for redemption, and that’s exactly what it found.
The Indians (7-0) scored early and often to blow what seemed, at first, like another close game wide open to top rival Cold Spring Harbor 15-3 Wednesday. The Seahawks had edged Manhasset 8-7 last season.
“We wanted revenge,” said senior midfielder and attack Aidan Haggerty. “It feels great to put a statement win out there.”
Senior midfielder Liam Connor was the only player to get on the board for the Indians in the first, and did so midway through the quarter to knot the game, 1-1. He finished a dunk inside off a feed from junior Patrick Arnold, but even as the second quarter wound down, after Connor assisted senior midfielder Matthew Cargiulo’s goal to retie the score, 2-2, it seemed the contest was going to remain close. How quickly things changed.
Senior midfielder Jack Petersen found Connor for a 3-2 edge with 56.5 seconds on the clock, and the team didn’t stop there. Connor blasted an unassisted rocket from 25 yards out, with 15.3 to go and Peterson found Haggerty with 1.7 seconds left to help Manhasset take a 5-2 lead into halftime.
“This is a big game for us every year, so the nerves definitely played a role,” said junior faceoff specialist Cal Girard. “Coming into the game I think we might’ve been a little too excited, but once we get going and play our game, we feel nobody can stop us.”
And that was evident as the Manhasset train kept rolling. Three different players — Connor, Cargiulo and Haggerty — all finished with three goals, and nine ended up on the stat sheet. Haggerty hit Connor for his hat trick goal on another put-in up front to make it 8-2 at the 9:05 mark of the third, and Haggerty blasted his second goal three minutes later, sandwiching a Petersen-to-sophomore Daniel Kolin score, to quadruple Manhasset’s lead.
“In a zone it’s all about ball movement and moving it quick,” Petersen said. “We just started putting it together and figuring it out after the first quarter. We started changing our levels and our offense started shooting better.”
Connor finished with six points on three goals and three assists, Haggerty added five off three goals and two assists and Petersen finished with four on one goal and three assists.
“My teammates were just finding me,” Haggerty said. “Anyone can score on this team — it doesn’t really matter who — and it just ended up in my stick today.”
Peterson connected with Haggerty on two separate occasions, repaying the favor to each other. Petersen said with the entire team playing together since they were 5 years old, it makes connections like that easy.
“We’re meshing just as much off the field as we do on, and it only helps instill even more great chemistry between these guys,” the senior said, adding that multiple offensive threats also bodes well for his team. “We’ve been playing together for a long time, and when you have six guys who can shoot it, especially when they were locking off like they did today; to lock off two, our other four guys will still kill you, so it’s great having a lot of weapons out there.”
Having Girard scoop up nearly every faceoff win doesn’t hurt, either, especially when he’s passing the ball off to an offense that scores nearly each and every time it gains possession. He did, though, say he was shocked by his midfield opponent, and needed to make some changes.
“They put a pole out there to faceoff from the start, which surprised me a little, so I definitely had to get out quicker and have cleaner exits, but I think I was able to adjust nicely to that and get my team the ball,” he said. “I like to push transition, and those guys are just so talented, so the more they have the ball the harder it’s going to be to beat us.”
Girard said this was a matchup circled on everyone’s calendar, so to take it back is rewarding. Manhasset, still undefeated, has now jumped to No.3 on the Nike/USA Lacrosse Top 10 list, but Haggerty said the team isn’t done yet.
“Every game is a big game coming up,” he said. “But we know when we play with tempo and play with our energy and move the ball, we can easily put it in the back of the net. We’ve all been running on high motors, so it’s been great.”
Petersen said the team has been working hard to maintain its state championship-winning prowess.
“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing and take it one step at a time,” he said. “But I love our chances.”
