by Hallie Harvey
Manhasset High School Boys Lacrosse secured their 78th Wood Stick Classic victory on Saturday afternoon against the hosting Garden City Trojans. The undefeated Manhasset Indians beat their longtime rival 19-14, carrying a steady lead throughout the last three quarters.
The Wood Stick Classic is the longest standing lacrosse rivalry on Long Island, where these two neighboring Nassau County teams have faced off against one another every year since 1935, excluding 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Over that time, Manhasset carries the Classic 78-61.
Senior midfielder Aidan Mullholland, who scored 5 goals in the Classic, described the intensity leading up to the highly anticipated rivalry game. “Especially not having last year, it was super special for us, the seniors, to play for the kids who weren’t able to play last year, play for our community and it’s such a great tradition,” the Michigan commit said.
Garden City opened the game with a short lead before the Indians took over. Manhasset evened the score 3-3 with only two minutes left in the first quarter and scored three more before the end of the first quarter . From then on, Manhasset took on running and held a strong lead of 11-3 at half time with an 8-goal scoring streak.
Consequently, the Trojans came back from half time with a vengeance. They opened up the second half with two back-to-back goals within the first 20 seconds to bring the score to 11-5 following that 8-point deficit. Ryan Connelly, Luke Schmitt, Gerard O’Connor and Bobby Seel were amongst the Trojans with multiple points on the board.
However, when Garden City picked up the pace during the third quarter, senior middie Nolan Garcia said he wasn’t nervous. “We know what we can do, and we went out there and did it,” Garcia said. The Marquette commit scored four goals in Saturday’s game.
Despite Garden City redeeming themselves for 8 unanswered points, Manhasset’s offense was too quick to catch up to. Overall, the Indians separated the score by 5 points and earned their 19-14 victory.
When asked what Saturday’s Wood Stick Classic was all about, Matt Perfetto, Cornell commit and younger brother of Boston University’s Louis Perfetto, answered humbly. “I think we just keep a chip on our shoulder and mostly do it for the kids who missed our season last year,” the junior attacker said.
Although the Wood Stick Classic is a non-conference game for these Section VIII teams, Manhasset plans to keep up this momentum going into the rest of their regular season.
“It’s a long season, this is just one game. We have to get back to work on Monday,” Manhasset offensive coordinator and former 3x MLL All-Star Blake Miller said. “We have a whole season left.”
