Title Defense
Nationally Ranked Lax Boys look to repeat as Long Island Champions
Story and Photos by Steven Zaitz
It’s not how you start, but how you finish, so goes the saying.
The Northport Boys Lacrosse team embodied that adage in 2021, as they looked anything like a champion at the start of last season, stumbling out of the gate by losing three of their first five games.
But like a grand chess master, second year Head Coach Larry Cerasi was playing the long game – and everybody reading this, along with the entire Northport community – knows what happened over the following 10 weeks. The Tigers won the next 13 games in a row, including wins over both Smithtown teams and hated Ward Melville in the playoffs to capture Suffolk. They finished it off with a wild, see-saw win against Syosset to take home the Class AA Long Island Championship.
That day in mid-June 2021 was the crowning achievement for the entire Northport athletic organization, as the Tiger victory on the baking hot Islip turf was the last competitive game a Northport team would play; after a wacky season of Covid-affected schedules in all sports. The Lady Tigers team beat Massapequa earlier that day and both teams rode off into the summer sunset with Long Island-wide trophies tucked under their arms.
So what will the boys do for an encore?
“Northport is such a historic program and we’ve had a lot of success over the years,” said Cerasi, who is Newsday’s 2021 Coach of the Year. “We know that every season respect our ability and we will go about this as ‘business as usual’ in that we know we have a lot of stiff competition, and we need to be as sharp as possible and get better every day.”
The Tigers will enjoy the return of many of their core players from their championship team, but there are some spots that must be filled. Attackers Ryan McCarthy and Jimmy Atkinson and Midfielders Casey Fortunato and Tristan Triolo and their combined 95 goals have graduated from Northport High School and are playing at the next level. Rafe Carner and Emerson Payne who did the dirty work on defense and suppressed the enemy’s attack on a consistent basis, are also in college. Additionally, standout goalkeeper and Field Marshall Andrew Tittmann, who saved his best and most spectacular saves for the post season, will no longer be between the pipes for the Tigers.
Luke Lamendola will start in net for the Tigers to begin the season.
“We are hoping that Luke can get in there an solidify the crease,” said Cerasi. “We have returners all over the field, but especially on defense. Jack Sandrib, Andrew Miller, Jon Alfiero and Dan Eagers are all back, so I think they will make that transition a little easier for him, until he gets his feet wet.”
Also returning is Penn State-bound face-off specialist extraordinaire Tyler Kupianchick, who is a possession-retaining machine. He won 80% of his draws last year and was the M.V.P. of the L.I.C. According to Cerasi, nobody works harder at his craft.
“After a particularly long practice the other night, I saw Tyler working with the J.V. and freshmen face-off guys on technique,” said Cerasi. “The kid is always working and I think that spills over to the other guys on the team because they see stuff like that and it encourages them to act the same way.”
Miller, class of 2023 and who himself is no slouch as a worker, is all too familiar with multiple Northport teams and their ability to replace important pieces with new guys.
“I’m excited to see some of the new kids get a chance and I think we will get scoring from a lot of different places,” said Miller. “Mike Meyer is a great scorer and Jack Helrigel, Dylan McNaughton, William Murphy, Tim Kirchner and Jacob Starcke hopefully will all get rolling too and get a piece of the scoring pie. I’d like to score a few myself as well.”
Meyer led the team with 38 goals in 2021, Helrigel had 18, Kirchner 8 and Miller 9 from his responsibility-laden, ground-covering midfielder slot.
The West Point commit also had a spectacular goal against Mt. Sinai in the Tigers opening non-league 12-4 loss. He sliced through a multitude of defenders and was parallel with the ground as he put it past MS GK Brayden Wilcken. Starcke had 2 goals on that cold, rainy night last Thursday and Nick Valenti had the other. Despite the 12 goals allowed, Lamendola had several saves from in close and looked nimble around his crease. He notched his first win last Friday when the Tigers beat Pt. Washington 16-11. Lamendola had 10 saves in that game – and that concludes the non-league portion of your program, as the Tigers tangle with Division I foe William Floyd on March 29.
“I’m getting comfortable back there,” said Lamendola. “Mt. Sinai is a great team and they threw a lot of shots at me. I’m still confident.”
Lamendola is not kidding when he says the Mustangs are a good team. They are ranked 3rd in the entire United States of America and have the consensus #1 player in the country in Attacker Joey Spallina. Spallina scored 6 goals and assisted on two others in the Mustang’s win over Northport. The Tigers are ranked 16th in the country and Ward Melville is 23rd.
McNaughton, who will collect his 8th and final Northport varsity letter when the Lacrosse season is over, wants to go out on a high note.
“Honestly, I have a lot of emotions,” said the marauding midfielder McNaughton. “Last year, I won two county championships (Lacrosse and Basketball) and this year, I’ve been through some heartbreaking losses (playoff losses in football and basketball). So, I’m excited to compete for another Long Island Championship in lacrosse and end my Northport career with a bang. But I’m also sad, coming to realization that this my last few months playing on a team as a Northport Tiger.”
If the Lacrosse season ends similarly to last year, they will be months to remember.
.Scroll down a little further for photos of the game v Mt. Sinai. Click on any photo for Gallery view
