West Hempstead on the rise

What a difference a year makes. While it wasn’t due to lack of effort, exactly one year ago at this time, members of the West Hempstead boys’ lacrosse team were licking their wounds after failing to pick up a single victory. 

Rather than play the woe-is-me card and let the rough season beat them down, the Rams vowed to work hard to improve. The results were impressive. Despite finishing the season with three straight defeats, West Hempstead posted a very respectable overall record of 6-8 (3-5 in Nassau Conference III). 

Michael Paul, who had seen his teams win just a handful of games over his first three seasons as head coach, was excited, but not surprised, about the turnaround. “We really had a great season, especially after losing every game, last year,” Paul said. “We had a lot of guys back, and they worked hard to get better in every aspect. It wasn’t just one thing that got things turned around, it was a little bit of everything.”

The Rams broke their winless string in the first week of the season when they traveled to Elmont and picked up a 12-7 victory. Midfielder Tim Shanley, an Honorable Mention All-County recipient, had a hat trick and did an excellent job in winning a dozen faceoffs to lead the way. Shanley capped off his career by scoring 23 goals and assisting on 16 others as a senior.

Whether it was finding the back of the net or setting up teammates, senior attackman Peter Schulze did an outstanding job operating around X. Schulze, who led the team in scoring with 27 goals and 19 assists, scored a career-high five goals in an 11-10 overtime loss at Levittown Division. Schulze earned All-Conference honors.

The loss to Division was a tough one to swallow. The Rams led 10-7 with just under two minutes remaining, but couldn’t hold on. “We took a lot of penalties. Eight of their goals came when we were a man down,” Paul said. “We lost a little of our composure and our awareness. That’s definitely one that we could have had.”

In the past, West Hempstead gave up a lot and scored few goals. After scoring just 40 goals in 2017, it picked up 119 in 2018. Senior Thomas Cardillo scored 20 goals and hit the three-goal mark on three occasions. 

The defense was far better, as well. Senior Emerson Maldonado, an All-Conference recipient, served as a lockdown defender, led the team in ground balls, and did a nice job getting the Rams transitioned into their offensive attack. Despite giving up size, senior Christino Maldonado played sound on-ball defense. Goalie Dakota Maag’s goals-against-average dropped considerably.

“We lose a lot of seniors and about 95 percent of our scoring,” Paul said. “But we have five or six juniors who saw considerable time, and a few sophomores who will be ready to step in. They know what they need to work on, and understand the commitment that it takes to improve.”