West Hempstead looks for progress

While adjacent and surrounding communities are lacrosse hotbeds, where children seemingly hold and twist a stick in their hands before they learn to walk, West Hempstead is relatively new to the game. Hence, victories have been few and far between and frustration aplenty on the lacrosse field at West Hempstead in past years.

The Rams have a relatively young group and return just a pair of starters, however there are reasons for optimism to be in the air. West Hempstead expects to be far more competitive in Nassau Conference CD-2. Among those the Rams will face are Island Trees, Friends Academy, Glen Cove, Malverne/East Rockaway, Clarke, Wheatley, and Lawrence.

While the team hasn’t found its way into the win column as of yet, West Hempstead has lost its first two games by narrow margins, a 4-3 overtime loss at Great Neck North, and a 6-3 loss to visiting Elmont. 

Michael Paul, in his third season as head coach, expects his young team to get better as the season goes along. “We have 17 juniors, two sophomores, and just one senior on the roster, so most of the guys are just getting used to the speed of the varsity game,” Paul said. “The weather made things tough for us, because we had to cancel scrimmages and games. You need game action to learn from and make adjustments. We’re building and improving as a team. This is the most dedicated bunch of guys I have had since I began coaching here seven years ago.”

The Rams return their starting goalie, junior Dakota Maag. With a year under his belt at the varsity level, Maag has shown major improvement in net. He kept the team in the game with nine saves in each of West Hempstead’s first two games, and has considerably gotten better at leading the team’s transition to offense after making stops.

The defensive unit is led by junior Emerson Maldonado, the team’s other returning starter and its strongest overall performer. Maldonado is a shutdown defender who is terrific at scooping up ground balls. He’s joined on the back line by a pair of juniors, Ryan Last and Alez Lopez. 

Paul is happy with the play he’s getting from his long-stick midfielders. Senior Dario Perciballi and junior Christino Maldonado have done a good job shutting down the opponent’s best middies. 

Junior midfielder Tim Shanley has put in the time and effort to become pretty deft in the faceoff circle. Shanley’s overall game, namely his ability to control the pace of the game, has stood out over the team’s first two games. 

Juniors Anthony Galan and Aaron Benitez both dodge well and get to the cage. Benitez had a pair of goals in the loss to Elmont. Junior Jonathan Alonzo is a sound two-way player who is quick and fearless. 

The Rams will look to pick up a victory when they travel to Division this Friday for a 4:30 p.m. start.