The Manhasset boys lacrosse continues their undefeated season after becoming Nassau County Champions and look ahead to the Long Island Championship this weekend. The Manhasset Indians (15-0) defeated the 2019 reigning champions, Cold Spring Harbor (13-2), 10-8 in an intense matchup at Mitchel Field last night.
Manhasset is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Lacrosse Magazine, and proved their ascension to the top after their triumph over the Seahawks, who were the previous county champs in 2019. Manhasset previously beat Cold Spring Harbor 12-5 at their regular season matchup in May.
“Cold Spring Harbor had an incredible game planned— so much respect to them and their coaches but I’m just so happy that we came out with this win,” Manhasset senior captain Aidan Mullholland said.
The beginning of the game started off slow and steady before Manhasset’s junior attacker, Matt Perfetto, put the first point on the board with 2:32 remaining in the first quarter and now tallies 54 points this season. His teammate and Air Force commit, Hunter Panzik, followed up by closing the quarter with a goal, letting the Indians secure their 2-0 lead early in the game.
“This win means a lot, not only to the team but to the community,” Perfetto, the Cornell commit said. “Last year we were expecting to do big things but since the season got canceled that really was the main motivator this year.”
However, it didn’t take long before Cold Spring Harbor’s Cam Ottimo scored the first goal for the Seahawks early in the second quarter. From that point on the game was a back-and-forth battle between scorers as Manhasset’s Aidan Mullholland scored his first goal of the game and FOGO Cal Girard closed the first half with an Indians lead of 4-3 after his goal off a fast break from the Face-off X.
“This win means a lot to us, we’ve worked really, really hard.” Mullholland said. The senior middie is committed to attend Michigan in the fall. “And it being my senior year I’m really happy that we got this win.”
The third quarter was action-packed, but the Indians carried their lead throughout the entire game. Mullholland scored within the first minute of the second half and was followed up by his teammate Rory Connor just seconds later. But it wasn’t long before Seahawks’ Will Spehr and Max Hawkinson scored in succession as well. The third quarter ended with Spehr earning a hat trick as he brought the score to 8-7 before entering the final quarter.
Finally, tension rose in the fourth quarter after Cold Spring Harbor’s Hunter Gagne tied the game at 8-8, but Manhasset wasn’t going to let them get ahead. Rory Connor earned himself a hat trick and junior middie, Joey Terenzi, brought the final score to 10-8 with under a minute left in regulation. Manahsset had goals by six different scorers by the end of the game.
“After last night’s game we are looking forward to getting to practice and getting back to work,” Perfetto said. “The job is not finished and we still have not accomplished our biggest goal yet.”
Now, Manhasset moves on to the LIC where they will play Mt. Sinai at East Islip Middle School on Saturday. Mt. Sinai is currently ranked No. 5 by USA Lacrosse Magazine and previously defeated Bayport-Blue Point in the Suffolk County Championship on Wednesday night. “I’m looking forward to getting back to practice tomorrow,” said Mullholland.
