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Local Lacrosse Previews
Babylon is as good as its goalie, senior Mat Martinez. He was excellent last year and grabbed a scholarship to play with Cornell, and this year he'll help the Panthers compete for a county title. The Panthers (9-8 last year) also have eight seniors starting and have a powerful midfield with Matt Griffo and Taylor Reynolds. Copiague Copiague started the season off 0-3 (as of March 29), and will have a tough time competing in Division I. The first three loses were to Mercy, Bellmore JFK and Whitman and there doesn't seem to be much room for easy opponents from there on out. The Eagles return five of seven starters and 12 players from last year's roster. They'll be led by midfielders J o e J a c o b i a (14) and Anthony Littlewood (25), who combined for 39 goals last year. O n the defensive side of the ball Nate Pinnock will be the main threat, as well as goalies Jack Snee and Bobby Annan. Deer Park ' Getting ranked No. 23 out of 25 in Suffolk County preseason polls isn't too discouraging for Falcons' coach Brian Tower. He knows most of his team from last year is back and he has a few kids that are playing college lacrosse next year.
"We're looking for him to contribute all over the field this year," Tower said. Senior attackman Rich Picciano, who scored nine goals through the first three games of the season, is headed to Adelphi and is the quarterback of the attack. The defensive leaders are seniors Bill Florio, who will play at St. Johns and John Kowalchuk, who will play at Limestone College. Both are team captains. Tim Bruin will start for the second season in net. Lindenhurst The Bulldogs (8-6) qualified for the playoffs the last four years and don't plan on breaking that streak. "Last year we were young and they're still young," coach Andre Dattero said. "But we still have some experience." They return senior midfielders Tim Russo, who is headed to Sacred Heart University and Vinny Brites, as well as Suffolk County Rookie of the Year junior Nick Tandoi. Their goalie, sophomore Chris Insigne, started as a freshman and should be solid for the next three seasons. Look for sophomore attackman Joe Granata to make some noise as well. North Babylon It's never good when you graduate 92 percent of your scorers, but North Babylon (9-8) coach Will Imhof wasn't worried. His defense is comprised of some veterans. Senior goalie John Perlaza will be the last line of defense behind senior defender Chris Luber, who is playing football at Hobart next year. Sophomore Frank Columbo and junior Mike Cherry also return from last year's roster. The midfield has only two returning starters: seniors Niko Zelli and Dave Porrigan. Zelli is going into the United States Marine Corps. West Babylon The Eagles (8-6) are coming off a Big Seven Championship and return a handful of experienced offensive players. It's the defense, coach Steve Levy said, that has the question marks. "The defense hasn't had a lot of playing time," he said. The offense is led by senior attackman Ryan Amengual, an All- Division player, who had 21 goals and 19 assists last year. He is playing at New York Tech in the fall. "He's going to be the key to our offense," Levy said. The midfield should be entertaining to watch with seniors Mikel Hoffman, Ed Pleva, John Manzella and Adam Kicis and sophomore Alex Yee running the show. Their defense is led by seniors Eric Baranek and Vincent Filippone, as well as goalie Frank DiGiacomo. Look for senior Michael Oppito and junior Pete Siemsen to lend Amengual a hand at attack. West Islip Besides Huntington, there are no better teams than West Islip (23-0) on Long Island and possibly on the east coast. And since Huntington competes in Class B, there shouldn't be a problem for the Lions to repeat as the Class A state champions. They only have one returning starter on defense, senior Ryan Flanagan, who at 6-5 is one of the biggest athletes on Long Island and is headed to play at the University of North Carolina next year.
On the offensive side of the ball, Justin Turri and Brian Caufield are top threats. Turri is headed to Duke on a scholarship. He scored 66 goals and had 34 assists last year.
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