Tuesday, May 13, 2025
A double overtime win against a Macarthur team riding a six-game winning streak was a breakthrough moment for a young Long Beach boys’ lacrosse squad still finding its footing.
The Marines with a heavy underclassmen roster knocked off the Generals 9-8 in double OT Conference II win April 23 providing a confidence boost for a team that began the season with three straight losses. Long Beach (5-5), which has played a challenging schedule featuring defending Long Island Class A champion Farmingdale, has now won five of seven.
“We're playing top teams like Massapequa and Farmingdale and pretty much most of the top teams from the A division and it paid off in the MacArthur game because they were resilient,” Long Beach head coach Jason Pearl said. “I can't tell you how important that winning experience was that night, for the program as a whole and for the young ninth and 10th graders that are playing for us right now as you can never emulate that kind of experience in practice.”
Long Beach clinched the road win at MacArthur on a Brody Riedel goal in the second overtime session which ended a long scoring drought after both teams were held scoreless in the fourth quarter.
The Long Beach offense featured six different scorers in the MacArthur victory led by two goals apiece from Rory Ahearn, Jonathan Hayes and Cian Donaghy. Riedel had a goal and an assist with Wyatt Wojcieski also chipping in with one tally.
An 11-9 win at Mepham last Saturday also saw six different goal scorers led by three from Charlie Conway.
“They are sharing the ball and working well together,” said Pearl of the scoring depth on his team. “We don't care who ends up with the ball at the end of the game.”
The defense also held strong at MacArthur with junior goalie Aiden Derupo recording 13 saves while limiting the Generals to just one goal in the entire second half and overtime. Derupo was also solid in net during an 8-6 win at Island Trees on April 16 with 14 saves.
The defensive effort in front of Derupo has been led this season by Timmy Miller, Wyatt Katzen, Kellan De bruin, Bohdee Wardana and Charlie Muskin. The defense has held opponents to single digits in six of the team’s nine games which included a 7-2 win against Hewlett on April 2.
Miller brings versatility to the defense with the ability to play close to the net or long stick defensive midfielder and has also registered two goals.
“He is playing really solid defense and making good decisions,” Pearl said of Miller. “Even though he's a little banged up right now he's just fighting through it.”
Long Beach will host Conference I foe Port Washington May 6 at 5:30 before returning home for a league game against Herricks May 10 at 5 p.m. The regular season concludes May15 at Alumni Field versus Lynbrook with a 4:45 p.m. faceoff.
