The past two seasons, Ward Melville and Massapequa have battled in the LIC, and Ward Melville has defeated Massapequa the past two seasons. The third time was the charm for the Chiefs as they defeated Ward Melville 10-5 to win their first LIC since 2014, where they went on to win the State Championship.
Massapequa Takeaways
What won Massapequa the game was time of possession and the domination of Angelo Petrakis on the faceoff X. Massapequa possessed the ball for the majority of the game, especially in the third quarter as they were up 3-2 at halftime, and they came into the third quarter and dropped seven goals on a very strong Ward Melville defense. The hero on offense was Thomas Greenblatt, who went off for 4 goals and 2 assists. Angelo Petrakis continued to dominated the faceoff X as he has all season long and throughout his high school career. As a defensive unit, Kenny Brower, AJ Pilate, Dan Callan, and goalie, Nick Squicciarini did a great job playing team defensive and played smart and displicened lacrosse. Brower, Pilate, and Callan set up Nick Squicciarini to have a great day between the pipes as he finished with 7 saves on the day.
Ward Melville Takeaways
With the limited offensive opportunities that Ward Melville had in this game, they did a great job taking advantage of it, but the lack of time of possession killed them in this game. The Ward Melville defense did a great job in this game when you consider the fact that the ball was in the Chiefs end for most of the game, but it’s every tough for any team to come out on top when you don’t get a lot of offensive possessions. The battle at the faceoff X hurt Ward Melville as well. To recap Ward Melville’s season, they didn’t dominate like they did in the last couple of seasons, but it didn’t matter as they still won their fourth straight Suffolk County class A championship. Ward Melville’s defense was rock solid throughout the 2019 season, but Cornell bound Frank Ciniglio missing most of the season would have made them that much stronger and better. Graduating, Dylan Pallonetti, who was the guy on offensive, Pat O’Neil, who was great on defensive and in transition, and Brandon Alvies, who did it all for the Patriots is going to sting. Future Upenn Quaker, Matthew Wang will take Alvies role as the faceoff specialist, and Future UNC teammates, Collin Krieg, who is in the conversation as one of the best goalies on the island, and Ethan Larson will continue to be studs on the defense. Steven Germain is a player who has impressed me all season long, and he’s player that I like a lot. Germain will be one of the X factor’s next season for the Patriots.
