2011 season to come to a close for ranked teams in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut; No. 2 Conestoga eyes state title in Pennsylvania; No. 7 Jamesville-Dewitt lone defending champ still alive in New York; Garden City faces familiar foe in Yorktown.
One of the nation's longest winning streaks ended and another one lived on as teams in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area braced for the final week of the 2011 season, which ends on Saturday with state championship games in New York and Connecticut and the Tournament of Champions title game in New Jersey.
If Summit wins the TOC title in New Jersey, it will end the season with a 69-game win streak.
The fifth-ranked Hilltoppers, the top seed, face Delbarton in the semifinals on Wednesday at Kean University in Union, N.J. No. 20 Immaculata and No. 14 Bridgewater-Raritan meet in the other semifinal. The finals are set for Saturday at Rutgers University. Summit won its third straight NJSIAA group title to advance to the TOC.
In New York and Connecticut, state semifinals are also set for Wednesday.
This year's semis in New York are noteworthy for who will not be there, as well as for who will be. Sixth-ranked West Islip, which has won four state titles the last five seasons, saw its 40-game win streak end in the Long Island regional championship in a 10-9 overtime loss to Farmingdale. West Islip had been 4-0 in overtime games this season entering the game.
Another Long Island power, third-ranked Garden City, takes a 14-game win streak into its NYSPHSAA Class B semifinal in White Plains against Yorktown in the renewal of a postseason rivalry. This will be the teams' eighth state Final Four meeting. Yorktown has won four of the previous seven games.
In the other semifinals at White Plains, Shenendehowa (Section 2) faces Farmingdale in Class A at 3:30 p.m.; in Class C, Bronxville (Section 1), making its first state tournament appearance, faces a Bayport-Blue Point (Section 11) team that beat Cold Spring Harbor to win the Long Island Class C title.
The winners of these games will advance to the state finals on Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High to play the winners of the three upstate semifinals. The latter games will be played at St. John Fisher College in Rochester.
In Class B, seventh-ranked Jamesville Dewitt (Section 3) meets Irondequoit (Section 5) with West Islip's loss to Farmingdale and two-time defending state champion Manhasset losing to Garden City in the Nassau County Class B title game.
Jamesville Dewitt is the lone defending New York state champion still alive. Ithaca (Section 3) faces Pittsford (Section 5) in Class A, and the Class C game is a matchup between Cazenovia (Section 3) and Silver Creek (Section 6).
In Connecticut, fourth-ranked Darien is the only defending state champ with a shot at repeating. If the Blue Wave do, it will be their seventh straight state title.
MAXPREPS XCELLENT 20 NATIONAL BOYS LACROSSE RANKINGS
1. Haverford School (Pa.), 23-0: The Fords extended their win streak to 26 straight by edging Malvern Prep (Pa.) 5-4 in the Inter-Ac final. (Last week's ranking: No. 1)
2. Conestoga (Berwyn, Pa.), 23-1: Defending state champion Conestoga will meet familiar foe Central Bucks East (Pa.) on Tuesday in the PIAA tournament semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 3)
3. Garden City (N.Y.), 18-2: Devin Dwyer,
Patric Berkery and
Tom Gordon have been coming up big offensively for the Trojans. (Last week's ranking: No. 4)
4. Darien (Conn.), 19-2: Richard Gregory had three goals and an assist in a 10-5 Division M state quarterfinal win over Fairfield Ludlowe. (Last week's ranking: No. 6)
5. Summit (N.J.), 22-0: The Hilltoppers extended their win streak to 67 by pulling out a dramatic 7-6 overtime win against Chatham (N.J.) in the Group 2 championship game as
Sonny Round scored the winning goal. It (Last week's ranking: No. 7)
6. West Islip (N.Y.), 19-1: Though their win streak is history, the Lions did win their eighth straight Suffolk County Class A title. (Last week's ranking: No. 2)
7. Jamesville-DeWitt (DeWitt, N.Y.), 20-0: Jordan Evans has 55 goals and an even 100 points this season for the Red Rams. (Last week's ranking: No. 9)
8. Manhasset (N.Y.), 17-2: The Indians came back from a 3-0 deficit early in the game to tie Garden City (N.Y.) 5-5 in the Nassau County Class B title game before falling 6-5 to end their quest for a third straight state title. (Last week's ranking: No. 8)
9. St. Anthony's (Melville, N.Y.), 14-3: Charles Raffa excelled on faceoffs and ground balls, and had two goals in a 12-10 win over Chaminade in the CHSAA title game. (Last week's ranking: No. 10)
10. Deerfield Academy (Mass.), 15-0: Ian Ardrey and
Jimmy Bitter were the catalysts of a potent Big Green offense. (Last week's ranking: No. 11)
11. Smithtown West (N.Y.), 15-4: The Bulls' hopes of winning a first Suffolk County title ended with a 12-11 overtime loss to West Islip (N.Y.) in the Suffolk County title game. (Last week's ranking: No. 5)
12. Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.), 18-1: Ryan Ball had five goals in an 11-10 state title game win over Kent Denver. (Last week's ranking: No. 12)
13. Chaminade (Mineola, N.Y.), 15-3: The Flyers fell short of what would have been their first three-game sweep of rival St. Anthony's since 2006. (Last week's ranking: No. 13)
14. Bridgewater-Raritan (Bridgewater, N.J.), 18-2: Ryan Hollingsworth had four goals in a 15-6 win over Moorestown (N.J.) in the opening round of the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions. (Last week's ranking: No. 14)
15. Calvert Hall (Baltimore), 17-2: Calvert Hall fell to Gilman (Baltimore), 13-8, in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game after edging Boys Latin (Md.) 7-6 in the semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 15)
16. Ward Melville (East Setauket, N.Y.), 16-2: Will Mazzone had two goals and an assist in a 15-7 Suffolk County Class A semifinal loss to Smithtown West. (Last week's ranking: No. 16)
17. St. Ignatius (San Francisco), 19-3: Midfielder
Matt Emery is one of the nation's top sophomores. (Last week's ranking: No. 17)
18. Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, Fla.), 20-1: Nick St. Laurent's goal with 7 seconds left gave the Highlanders an 11-10 win over St. Andrew's in the state title game. (Last week's ranking: No. 18)
19. Coppell (Texas), 15-4: The Cowboys' 10-8 Division I state-title game win against Dallas Jesuit avenged for a 13-11 regular-season loss to the Rangers and followed an 11-10 triumph over St. Mark's in the semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 19)
20. Immaculata (Somerville, N.J.), 19-1: The Spartans received a first-round Tournament of Champions bye. (Last week's ranking: No. 20)
Dropped out: None
Joe Lombardi writes the "Lax with Joe" blog at LaxLessons.com and is an analyst for the MSG Varsity Television Network. He is also the primary author of the new edition of "Lacrosse for Dummies," which was released last year. He may be reached at joe@laxlessons.com and followed on Twitter @joe_lombardi.
