Two games set for Long Island involving teams ranked in the Top 8; No. 1 Haverford finishes undefeated; No. 6 Darien takes seventh-straight FCIAC crown in Connecticut; No. 7 Summit to put 66-game winning streak on the line in NJSIAA final.
It will be a Woodstick Classic rematch, not to mention an epic battle of highly rated teams, in the MaxPreps Xcellent 20 National Boys Lacrosse Rankings.
Long Island, N.Y., neighbors Garden City and Manhasset, who met April 30 in the 120th edition of high school lacrosse's longest continuously running rivalry, will be at it again on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Hofstra University's Shuart Stadium.
This time, the stakes will be higher for No. 4 Garden City and No. 8 Manhasset.
The teams will be playing for the Nassau County (Section 8) Class B championship, with a berth in the Long Island championship game against the winner of the Suffolk County (Section 11) final between Huntington and Shoreham-Wading River.
The Suffolk Class A title game, meanwhile, features another marquee matchup as top-seeded and unbeaten West Islip (No. 2 nationally) faces Smithtown West (No. 5) in a rematch of a regular-season game won by West Islip in overtime. West Islip has won four state titles in the last five years. That game is set for Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Stony Brook University's LaValle Stadium.
Case Matheis of No. 6 Darien.
Photo by Jim Stout
Darien now starts its pursuit of a seventh straight Connecticut Class M state title. The Blue Wave beat Ridgefield, 10-7, in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference title game behind Duke University-bound junior attackman
Case Matheis' five goals and two assists.
Salesianum School took the Delaware state championship by beating Tower Hill, 7-5, behind two goals each from
Andrew Blundin,
William Freeborn and
Dillon Walker.
Michael Kenski's third goal of the fourth quarter, with 5 minutes left in regulation, gave Linganore a 13-12 win over South River in the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association 3A/4A championship game. Kenski finished with four goals and an assist. Teammate
Alex Rice had five goals.
In California,
Christopher Hill had three goals as Marin Catholic beat Aclanes, 8-7, to win the CIF North Coast Section championship Division II title.
Patrick Rooney scored the game-winning goal for Marin Catholic, which rallied to win after trailing 7-2.
Also in the CIF playoffs, Monte Vista defeated De La Salle, 10-7, to win the NCS Division I championship, ending the season with an 11-game win streak.
St. Anthony's, which fell to Chaminade twice during the regular season, won what's become the teams' annual third meeting of the year. The Friars beat the Flyers, 12-10, in the CHSAA title game. University of Maryland-bound midfielder
Charles Raffa was named game MVP.
In New York's Section 1 (Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess counties), Mahopac won its first sectional title since 2004 by beating defending champion Lakeland/Panas by 7-5 for the Class A crown.
In Class B, Yorktown pulled away in the second half for a 14-5 win over John Jay as
Ty Schuldt had four goals and
Justin Mabus registered six assists. It was Yorktown's 34th sectional title.
Georgetown University-bound
Charlie McCormick had seven goals and two assists as Bronxville won its first sectional title by beating Byram Hills 15-6 in Class C.
MAXPREPS XCELLENT 20 NATIONAL BOYS LACROSSE RANKINGS1. Haverford School (Pa.), 23-0: The Fords extended their win streak to 26 straight games and finished the season undefeated by edging Malvern Prep (Pa.), 5-4, in the Inter-Ac final. (Last week's ranking: No. 1)
2. West Islip (N.Y.), 18-0: Kyle Carrick starred on close defense in the Lions' 6-2 win over Connetquot in the Suffolk County Class A semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 2)
3. Conestoga (Berwyn, Pa.), 21-1: Top-seeded Conestoga won its third straight District 1 championship by picking up a 10-4 win over Central Bucks East (Pa.). (Last week's ranking: No. 4)
4. Garden City (N.Y.), 16-2: Rob Savage won nine of 11 faceoffs in the Trojans' 14-2 win over South Side in the Nassau County Class B semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 5)
5. Smithtown West (N.Y.), 15-3: James Pannell and Kyle Keenan each had three goals and two assists in a surprisingly one-sided 15-7 win against Ward Melville (N.Y.) in the Suffolk County Class A semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 12)
6. Darien (Conn.), 17-2: University of Maryland-bound defender
Eric Parnon was named game MVP in the previously mentioned FCIAC title-game win over Ridgefield (Conn.), the Blue Waves' 11th straight victory. (Last week's ranking: No. 6)
7. Summit (N.J.), 21-0: The Hilltoppers take a 66-game win streak into this week's Group 2 championship game against Chatham (N.J.). (Last week's ranking: No. 7)
8. Manhasset (N.Y.), 17-1: Harry Kucharczyk had four goals and an assist in a 10-7 win over Wantagh in the Nassau County Class B semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 8)
9. Jamesville-DeWitt (DeWitt, N.Y.), 18-0: Deke Burns and
Jordan Evans each had five goals and four assists in a 23-7 win over Carthage (N.Y.) in the Section 3 Class B championship game. (Last week's ranking: No. 9)
10. St. Anthony's (Melville, N.Y.), 14-3: Charlie Raffa excelled on faceoffs and ground balls, and scored two goals in the previously mentioned win over Chaminade. (Last week's ranking: No. 13)
11. Deerfield Academy (Mass.), 15-0: Ian Ardrey and
Jimmy Bitter key a potent Big Green offense. (Last week's ranking: No. 11)
12. Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.), 18-1: Ryan Ball had five goals in an 11-10 state title game win over Kent Denver (Colo.). (Last week's ranking: No. 14)
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. 10)
14. Bridgewater-Raritan (Bridgewater, N.J.), 16-2: Sophomore attackman
Tyler Konen had three goals and an assist in a 12-10 victory over Hillsborough (N.J.). (Last week's ranking: No. 17)
15. Calvert Hall (Baltimore), 17-2: Calvert Hall fell to Gilman (Md.), 13-8, in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game after edging Boys Latin (Md.) by 7-6 in the semifinals. (Last week's ranking: No. 16)
16. Ward Melville (East Setauket, N.Y.), 16-2: Will Mazzone had two goals and an assist in the previously mentioned Suffolk County Class A semifinal loss to Smithtown West. (Last week's ranking: No. 3)
17. St. Ignatius (San Francisco), 19-3: Midfielder
Matt Emery is one of the nation's top sophomores. (Last week's ranking: No. 18)
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. 19)
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.20)
20. Immaculata (Somerville, N.J.), 19-1: The Spartans will square off against Montclair Kimberley (N.J.) in the Non-Public B title game this week.
Dropped out: Comsewogue (N.Y.), No. 15.
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.
