North Shore continues to roll

After starting the season a cool 5-0 against non-league opponents, the North Shore boys’ lacrosse team snatched its first conference win away from the Mineola Mustangs in a definitive 10-1 decision last Friday afternoon.

The Vikings relied on what has brought them here thus far, a staunch defensive unit and timely offensive breaks.

Despite the scoreboard, North Shore head coach Aaron Kozlowski was sure to give Mineola its due. “Mineola played tough. They played tough all game and made us work and earn each goal,” he said. “We just chipped away at it.”

Along with chipping away offensively, North Shore focused on denying the Mustangs from creating scoring opportunities for themselves. Senior goalie Jake Lennon had a relatively easy day’s work, only facing four shots on goal while saving three of them.

“Our pushing out and pressure in this game was really good,” Kozlowski said. “Our defensive philosophy is to create pressure and make every pass difficult and cause turnovers that way.”

Causing havoc and turnovers is exactly what North Shore did, and using those turnovers to create efficient offense. Of the 10 goals, senior attacker Liam Knehr tallied three while senior midfielder Ryan Aughavin collected two to go with four assists. With seven other players contributing at least one point (goal or assist) for North Shore, its balanced attack proves difficult to contain for other teams.

Speaking of the stellar defensive performance, Kozlowski spoke very highly of defenseman Donald Ahrens. “We put him on their best guy and he essentially held him to no goals. He’s definitely the leader of our defense,” Kozlowski said.

Last season, a year where North Shore finished with a 10-7 record, it allowed 8.41 goals per game. Although the sample size is much smaller, through six games the Vikings are allowing less than half of that total at only 4.17 goals per game. Obviously, the defensive focus is paying off so far.

Kozlowski, without looking past the next few games, eyed the week after the scholastic spring break and is prepping for it. “The week after we return from spring break is the biggest week of our season,” Kozlowski said.

Next week, the Vikings will match up against three very tough teams in the form of Baldwin, Lynbrook, and Cold Spring Harbor. Kozlowski continued. “That’ll be a challenging week, but we’re going to work on some things this week and in the non-leagues (games) to prepare for those teams.”

Amongst those aspects that North Shore wants to work on is the ability to find more ways to score. 

“I’d like to maybe have us score a couple more in transition,” Kozlowski said. “Our man up also has to improve.”

He also said he’d like to try and find the right combination of guys to play together during penalty possessions.

North Shore goes into the school break with its head held high and a desire to beat some of the best teams on Long Island.