Before the season, South Side boys’ lacrosse coach Steve DiPietro wasn’t sure how his team would respond to the “new challenge” of moving to the ultra-competitive Nassau Class C. So far, the Cyclones have responded in a big way.
South Side enters the final third of the season with an impressive 4-1 conference mark and sit 7-3 overall at press time, including big victories against some of the county’s top teams. The Cyclones have already matched their entire 2021 win total thanks to some timely scoring, stout defense and goaltending, and some young players poised to be future stars.
South Side started the year 6-0, which included dramatic overtime wins over Massapequa (7-1) and Wantagh (6-4) in which it trailed 5-2 at halftime each time. That was followed up by a 17-4 walloping at Plainedge on April 9 and a 14-4 rout of Floral Park three days later that was ignited by a nine-goal first period.
South Side eventually endured its first slump of the season with close defeats to Farmingdale and Port Washington and a 14-8 setback to Manhasset (8-2, 6-0 conference), the best ‘C’ team in the Conference CD division, but rebounded with a 13-4 home win over Island Trees last Friday in which the Cyclones led 8-0 at halftime.
“The guys certainly over those first six games raised the expectations of what we’re capable of,” DiPietro said. “I thought it was going to be slow going, but the kids showed ob\a lot of character and a lot of our ability being able to hold off a strong Syosset team and being able to come back against Massapequa and Wantagh.”