The first thing you notice when you see Andrew Fazio on the lacrosse field is that his stick is about as long as he is.
But after watching him play defense for a few minutes, it's quite apparent that despite his small size — he's 5-foot-1, 130 pounds — he has as big an impact on the game as just about anyone.
Fazio, a junior long-stick midfielder, was one of the reasons Lakeland/Panas pulled out a 10-9 win at Iona Prep. In addition to his defensive play, Fazio was also key as a wing player on faceoffs, scooping up several loose balls after the initial draw.
"He's a little spark plug," Lakeland/Panas coach Jim Lindsay said of Fazio. "He only started playing lacrosse a couple of years ago."
Prior to that, Fazio had concentrated on soccer. Now he's a key contributor in both sports. How does he overcome his lack of size?
"I play aggressively," Fazio said. "That's it."
Since he started playing lacrosse, Fazio has always played defense.
"I like defense because I like to hit people," he said.
Lindsay said he had no hesitancy starting Fazio despite his size.
"I played with Joe Ceglia," Lindsay said of the 5-foot-6 former Yorktown, Syracuse and MLL star defenseman. "I've seen enough other examples too where you can't judge a player by his size."
Fazio said his lack of size means just one thing.
"I just have to play harder," he said.
Woodstick Classic
It’s the nation’s longest running boys lacrosse rivalry and it will be renewed on Saturday. That’s when Manhasset and Garden City meet in the annual Woodstick Classic.
Since 1935, the teams have meet 117 times. This year’s game will be played at 7 p.m. at Manhasset. Both Nassau County-based teams are playing well. Manhasset is 7-1, with the loss coming against Comsewogue 11-10.
A 7-5 loss to Maryland power St. Paul’s at the Hanover (Pa.) turnover snapped Garden City’s eight-game win streak that started after it lost its season opener to 2008 Class A state finalist Syosset 6-3.
Manhasset, which won the first game of the series 9-0 on May 22, 1935, leads the series, 64-53. But Garden City has won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including last year’s 9-5 victory.
Crowds of more than 2,000 annually attend the game.
Ward Melville deals Yorktown first loss
It’s a style that’s passed the test of time. Especially against Yorktown. This year was no different. Ward Melville parlayed tenacious defense and a ball-control offense into an 8-6 win over Yorktown, which had been ranked sixth in the latest Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse national rankings. The Patriots were unranked.
Yorktown junior attackman Kevin Interlicchio, who is headed to Johns Hopkins, scored his 100h career goal, but was held in check by the close defense of Tyler Brennan, Matt Kunkel and Zach Zannone, finishing with two goals.
Army-bound senior attackman Cody Ferraro had three goals, with two coming late in the game to clinch it.
Ward Melville which has won 12 of the last 14 games against the ‘Huskers, now leads the all-time 29-7.
Class B race in Section 1 is one to watch
After following up a 10-7 win over four-time Section 1 Class B champion John Jay with a 15-8 win over Horace Greeley, which moved down from Class A this year, many are now pointing to Somers as the favorite to represent the section in the state playoffs.
Though it was Somers’ first win over John Jay since 2003, there was no letdown two days later against Greeley.
"We've been working really hard in practice," junior attackman/midfielder Colin Tullgren said after the Greeley win. "We viewed this as the biggest game of the season and we knew we had to come out and hustle all over the field, hit and get ground balls."
When the Tuskers do that, they match up well with just about anyone. It's a style that plays to Somers' strengths: athleticism, quickness and physicality.
"When we play hard and physical, good things are going to happen," first-year Somers coach Lew Janavey said.
Against Greeley, Somers also got something that makes it even tougher to beat: balanced scoring.
Sure Syracuse-bound senior star JoJo Marasco had three goals and two assists. But the Tuskers also had four other multiple-goal scorers, led by Tullgren, who had a career-high four goals to go along with two assists.
Three players scored two goals each — senior co-captain Dylan Haas, junior co-captain Greg Petre and junior Cole Partenza.
Partenza, who transferred back to Somers after playing for Iona Prep his freshman season, has strong bloodlines to Somers lacrosse. He's the cousin of former Somers standouts Tommy, Drew and Danny Werney.
"We know they're going to be keying on JoJo," Partenza said. "That's why we need to move off the ball when they're sliding to him."
Having other players in addition to Marasco fill the scoring column made Janavey a very happy man after the game.
"We need guys to step up," Janavey said. "It's nice when everyone else is a threat."
It's not so nice, though, if you're the opposing coach.
"They're a hard-nosed team," Greeley first-year coach Vin DeGregorio said. "That's what we expected."
Though Somers is looking like the team to beat right now, the playoffs are still more than a month away. DeGregorio, a former Yorktown standout who was an All-American at Hartwick, knows a thing or two about the postseason.
"Come playoff time," he said. "Everything changes."
