Wildcats fall short in hard-fought LI championship game

Shoreham-Wading River’s electric run through the lacrosse playoffs came to a halt Saturday afternoon with an 11-6 loss in the Long Island Class C final against reigning state champs Manhasset.

It has been four years since the Wildcats won their last state title and this team had all the ammunition to do it again. After all, they still had a player from that 2019 title team: Alec Gregorek. The senior was an 8th-grader at the time, but he was already starting and scoring many big goals, leading to the pinnacle of the sport – lifting the state title.

“The goal was always to get back there to the state championship,” Gregorek said. “That’s what I worked toward every day and I really thought my final season would be the season we did it again. Have it come full circle.”

Everything pointed to a win in the opening minutes. For the entirety of the playoffs to this point, SWR made a habit of starting strong. It was no different this time around. Alec’s brother, Liam Gregorek, was on a mission. The junior lit up the scoreboard, scoring three goals in the first quarter, vaulting the Wildcats into the second quarter leading, 3-1. Emotions were high and the adrenaline was flowing.

“Knowing who they were and how they win, we needed to get out in front and stay in front,” SWR head coach Mike Taylor said. “They have one of the best faceoff guys on Long Island. There’s a reason they were the best in Nassau County.”

That lead slowly evaporated, mostly because Manhasset (19-1) started dominating possession. Manhasset’s faceoff specialist, Cal Girard, was a force to be reckoned with at the midfield circle – winning 15 of 19 draws over the course of the game. Though SWR went into halftime leading, 4-3 thanks to a goal by Steven Cain, they were already behind 7-2 in face-offs. The defense was working overtime to try to win the ball back every possession. The Wildcats threw the kitchen sink at Girard, sending four different players to attempt to slow the senior down to no avail.

“If we keep giving them all those possessions of course they’re always going to be in the game,” Taylor said. “And then when they get ahead of you, it gives them the ability to stall.”

The Wildcats did everything they could to stay ahead — they played gritty, hard-nosed defense and it was working for most of the third quarter. Alec Gregorek fired a missile two minutes into the second half to give SWR a two goal cushion. But the Indians came storming back, scoring one goal to cut the deficit and another to tie the game while a man-up on a non-releasable penalty for a hit to the head.

Even so after three quarters, it was anyone’s game, tied at 5-all. With Manhasset ahead 11-3 in face-off draws, the Wildcats managed to score the first goal in the fourth quarter on a circus goal from Alec Gregorek in which he jumped from the back of the net to the front, ripping a surprise shot past the goaltender. 

But between the Manhasset defense absolutely crippling the Wildcat attack and the dominant possession control, the floodgates opened and the goals started coming in bunches. Manhasset finished the game with six unanswered goals en route to the championship.

Manhasset held Liam Kershis without a goal after he scored five in the Suffolk County championship game. Everytime Kershis tried to get inside, the defense muscled up, often forcing the junior to pick up himself off the ground. Though both teams played stout defense, in the end the Indians showed why they are the defending Class C New York State champions.

Losing this season’s seniors weighed heavily on Taylor’s mind after the game.

“We’re graduating some key seniors this year,” the coach said. “But we’re also returning a lot of key guys. I think it’s a good experience for our younger guys to see how hard it was just to get here. Those seniors that were the leaders taught the younger kids how to keep the culture going and what it takes to be a winning team. Hopefully that will bleed over and we’ll be knocking on the door again next year.”

The Wildcats will graduate starting attackers Alec Gregorek and Steven Cain. They’ll also lose the heartbeat of their defense in long-stick midfielder Luke Gorman along with the pace-setting midfielder Ryan Herr.

“I call Alec (Gregorek) grandpa because he’s been here for five years now,” Taylor said. “It’s going to be weird not to have him around anymore. You get so close as a coach, mentor and teacher, you feel like you’re losing one of your kids. It’s hard to see a guy come and go but he’ll do big things at the next level playing for Navy.”

“We had a great group of guys this year,” Gregorek added. “We accomplished a tremendous amount winning the Suffolk County championship. I’m proud of what we accomplished. I didn’t get back to the states but it doesn’t take away from what we did this year as brothers and I’ll definitely miss being a Wildcat.”