Long Beach upends Roslyn

Long Beach’s boys’ lacrosse team traveled to Roslyn Monday afternoon for a Nassau Class B playoff quarterfinals and a rematch of a game three weeks ago where Roslyn was victorious.

The visiting Marines looked dominant for a majority of the game and although there were some late theatrics, they came out on top, 11-9.

Fifth-seeded Long Beach (10-7) played a complete team game and its standouts were leading goal scorer Jack Miller, faceoff specialist Chip Buehre, Luke Hartman, Timmy Monzon, Tom Cieleski, Jack Skarren, and goalie Aiden Derupo

“They got us last time and we know we didn't do what we needed to beat them,” said Miller. “All this week we knew what it would take to win the game. We kept it simple, we executed today, and got it done.”

When asked about his own performance, Miller was humble and focused on his teammates. “I thought I played pretty well, but it doesn't happen without the defense getting stops, everyone clearing the ball, and winning faceoffs. It really was a team win,” he said.

Roslyn opened the scoring a minute into the game with a goal by Dan Disanti, but after a great defensive play by Monzon on the ensuing possession, Long Beach pushed the ball down the field and the junior Hartman tied it 1-1.

After that tying goal, the Marines kept the pressure on and never trailed again. The defense of Monzon, Cieleski, Skarren, and Hayden Sofield suffocated Roslyn and while the Bulldogs never went away, they could not consistently put the ball in the back of the net.

On the offensive side, Long Beach played smart and got the ball to its playmakers and scorers. The Marines scored 11 times, but it could have been more had it not been for Roslyn goalie Jacob Goldberg standing on his head for half the game.

The great defense, paired with dominating play by Buehre in the faceoff X, Miller and Hartman’s seven total goals, as well as stellar passing by Jeffrey Conway, Cian Donaghy, and Finn Morris sealed the deal for Long Beach.

“We played great, we came out ready to go,” coach Jason Pearl said. “Give Roslyn a lot of credit. They're a good team. They came out, fought hard, but we ended up on top. I told the guys, we have to value the ball. We have to pick up the first time ground balls. We have to play smart and we need to be successful at the face off X.”

         Next up, Long Beach will travel to Hofstra to take on top-seeded powerhouse Garden City in a semifinal Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The winner advances to the county final next Tuesday at Hofstra.

         “We have to buckle down. We have to have two good days of practice,” Pearl said.”Like I said, we need to value the ball. We had a couple throwaways today and we can't do that against [Garden City]. Our mistakes will end up with their goals, so we have to limit mistakes.”