After two opening losses, SWR boys lax squad bounces back big
Without leadership it’s hard for a team to succeed. That’s what the Shoreham-Wading River boys lacrosse team figured out in the first two losses of the season against Massapequa and East Islip. The Wildcats graduated Division I recruits up and down the lineup last year. Most of this year’s players weren’t starters, and many saw little if any playing time at the varsity level.
“The guys we have out there are just inexperienced,” SWR head coach Mike Taylor said. “There’s just so many variables they have to learn on the fly here. It’s one thing to play in practice, and it’s another being thrust into top quality game competition. There’s so many small little things that come up and need to be corrected.”
After the opening two losses, the captains got together and vowed to be more involved in the leadership aspect of the team.
“We had all these great seniors last year that went to big Division I schools like Duke,” long-stick midfielder George Greene said. “We all looked to them for support and now that support has to be us. We realized that early on. It’s up to us to step up and be those leaders.”
Shoreham-Wading River took the field on a wet, damp rainy Monday evening at Miller Place High School and dominated all four quarters of play. They got ahead and never looked back, ending the night with a 16-5 victory — their first of the season.
“The goal coming into today was to play quarter by quarter,” Taylor said. “I wanted us to win a quarter first because I felt like we hadn’t done that all season. Today we won all four quarters so that’s a great sign for us.”
Andrew Cimino — one of the few returning starters from last season — had a big day, netting five goals and registering an assist on another.
“It came down to learning how to work with each other,” Cimino said. “It was like a me-me situation in those two games. We realized that we can’t win games like that. Everybody needs to contribute for us to come out on top.”
Those contributions were evident as six players found the scoring column throughout the game. Lucas Diamond led the team in points with three goals and four assists. Noah Gregorek scored twice and collected four assists. Eighth grader Jack White scored three times and Anthony Mullen found the back of the net twice.
“The ball was flowing on offense,” Diamond said. “The defense was working hard. We were getting after ground balls — it was a full team effort today for sure.”
Playing a game against two of the top teams on Long Island in Massapequa and East Islip back to back to start the season was a major test for the Wildcats. It showed how much work they have to do to keep pace with the top echelon teams in the division.
“We’ve been really working hard on the fundamentals. We don’t have the flash this year. We don’t have 16 Division I guys on the roster,” Taylor said. “Very talented, don’t get me wrong, but just inexperienced. I think in time things are going to click.”
