HEMPSTEAD – On the last day of the high school sports season, the Marcellus boys lacrosse team sought a first state championship for its program.
Late on a Sunday afternoon at Hofstra University on Long Island, the Mustangs faced Cold Spring Harbor, the last obstacle to ultimate glory – which proved to be the one it could not overcome.
Equaling what Baldwinsville did in Class A (along with Garden City in Class B and Manhasset in Class C), the Seahawks defeated Marcellus 12-5, perhaps the only real blemish in a season full of sweet memories and special milestones.
After a tense, last-minute 7-6 win over Penn Yan in the state semifinals last Friday at Tompkins Community College, Marcellus had just one day of rest (plus travel downstate) before it met CSH, who beat Pleasantville 7-3 in the other semifinal late on Friday night.
There was an early exchange of goals, Chris Doshna getting the Mustangs on the board after Alex Bauer’s initial tally for the Seahawks. Yet once Roy Testa converted 7:01 into the game, CSH had the lead for good.
Testa and Bauer returned to put shots past Quentin Polkowski before the first quarter ended, and that 4-1 deficit for Marcellus grew when the Seahawks’ Reagan Kelly netted the lone goal of the second period.
All game long, the problem for the Mustangs was that it could not string together any sort of sustained scoring run against an airtight CSH defense.
Doshna and Adam Rayfield produced the only goals of the third quarter for Marcellus, but they were quickly answered. Ryan McGloin and C.J. Reilly found the net, Testa added a third goal and, with just two seconds left in the period, Bauer’s third goal made it 10-3.
Finally, in the fourth quarter back-to-back goals were achieved, one by Nick Rayfield, the other by Luke Spitzer, showing that the Mustangs battled to the end of its 18-4 campaign and will be hungry to go one step further in 2024.
