Carey faces challenging road

Carey comes off an 11-6 season that came to an end with a quarterfinal round playoff loss to Manhasset, a team that advanced to the Class B boys’ lacrosse state final. The Seahawks not only lost a slew of players to graduation, they lost their top midfielder to injury prior to the season.

With a roster composed of young and inexperienced players, and an unforgiving schedule, Carey will face some major bumps along the road. After they put the difficult non-league schedule behind them, teams like Garden City, Manhasset, and Long Beach await in conference play.

It hasn’t been a terrific start, as Carey has lost its first four games; one-sided losses to Massapequa, West Islip, and Bethpage, and a 6-5 defeat at the hands of South Side.

Carey head coach Tom Aiello understands that it will take time for his team to jell. “We’re struggling in the non-league games, but we’re playing against very good teams,” Aiello said. “The guys are working hard and giving it all they have. We’ll get there. I think we’ll be right in the mix.”

Aiello was counting on senior middie Mike Kadnar to be the team’s stalwart performer, but the Stony Brook-commit suffered a broken collarbone and will likely miss the entire season. Kadnar scored 25 goals and assisted on 13 others as a junior.

Senior Angelo Cona, who has four goals and two assists over the first four games, is great on the wing, dodges well, and does a good job picking up ground balls. Senior Kevin Meaney and junior Joe Sciacca are talented middies who can dodge and get to the cage. Junior Joe Petracosta handles most of the faceoffs.

Junior Dominic Scorcia is a crafty attacker with the ability to set up teammates or find the back of the net. Scorcia figures to be one of the team’s top offensive threats. Junior Matt Scarry and sophomore Matt Stevens are first-year varsity players who will be counted on to score.

Carey was loaded on the backline in 2015, but lost its entire defense and its goalie. Sophomore Joseph Tortorella takes over in cage. Aiello said he’s made some progress, but facing some of Long Island’s top shooters hasn’t been easy for the young goaltender. Tortorella had nine saves in the loss to South Side.

The defensive unit is made up mostly of newcomers. Sophomores Alex Lake and Frank Porcasi, juniors Dylan Nagy, Tyler Bourne, Anthony Todaro, and James Petracosta, and senior Anthony Luca are all in the defensive rotation.

Despite the slow start, Aiello is optimistic. “We have played well in spots, but the inexperience has shown,” he said. “We’ve stayed with teams for a while, but then things have just unraveled on us. We’re going to have to perform better when league play starts. We have some good athletes. They just need time to develop.” 

Carey welcomes in perennial-power Garden City for a league contest on April 13 at 4:30 p.m.