High School sports

Lynbrook rallies past South Side

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Lynbrook was in unfamiliar territory early in the fourth quarter of the Nassau County Class B boys lacrosse semifinals against South Side on May 20.

The Owls, who have breezed past most opponents during an undefeated season, trailed their neighborhood rivals by a goal and had gone nearly 20 minutes without finding the net. The top seed did not panic however and ended the game at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium with three straight goals to reach the county finals for a second straight year against Manhasset.

“Anytime you are down like that late in the game it is gut-check time and our team responded,” coach Bill Leighley moments after Lynbrook’s 6-4 win, its 18th straight without a loss. “The kids all believed.”

Lynbrook senior Michael Toy jumpstarted the Owls late-game run on a backhanded shot goal with 8:09 left that knotted the score at 4-4. Just 1:12 later senior Gordon Purdie gave Lynbrook the lead for good and Toy then added a key insurance tally on an off-balance shot with 3:32 left. Owen Daly helped Lynbrook dominate time-of-possession in the game’s final minutes with a commanding performance on faceoffs winning 10-of-13 on the night.

“Battling back like that showed a lot,” said Purdie, who will be playing at Adelphi next year. “This was good for us to win a close game the way we did.”

South Side (9-9) gave Lynbrook all it could handle with a smothering defense led by goalie Dennis Licalzi, who picked up several key third quarter saves that kept the Owls scoreless in the period. After a Purdie goal made it 3-1 Lynbrook early in the second quarter, South Side’s Tim Leake scored on transition with 5:57 left in the half and Joe Hill tallied a goal with just 8 seconds remaining off a feed from Peter Malizia that tied the game at halftime. An extra-man goal from Ryan Langdon with 7:42 left in the third quarter capped a 3-0 run that gave the Cyclones the lead.

“Our defense played great, but you can only hold a team down like that for so long,” South Side coach Steve DePietro said. “I’m so proud of our kids.”

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