Yorktown, Pleasantville Advance to NYS Class B, D Final 4’s

Carmel Falls Short in Class A Title Bid; Greeley Eyes 2025

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

Class B YORKTOWN and Class D PLEASANTVILLE are still shaking and baking in their respective NYSPHSAA boys’ lax tournaments after posting convincing wins over the Section 2 representatives Saturday at Lynch Literacy Academy in Amsterdam where two of Section 1’s finest added to their display of lax majesty.

A high ankle sprain can be a real bitch to get back from, but Yorktown senior Drew Weissman, in just his second game back after missing a handful of games, showed no ill-effects in the top-seeded Cornhuskers 14-9 Section 1 Class B title win over third-seeded HORACE GREELEY (13-6) Wednesday at Charlie Murphy Field where Weissman drew the top Quaker poles and all the slides they could throw at him. Undaunted, the Husker middie scored six points, netting four goals and two assists to lead the Huskers to back-to-back titles after the 42-time champions had been skunked between 2018-22 (no tourney in 2022 due to Covid).

The title victory advanced state-ranked (No.6) Yorktown (15-5) to the NYSPHSAA regional final Saturday. For the second year in a row, the Huskers would face state-ranked (No.9) Niskayuna, with whom they had a score to settle after the Silver Warriors took advantage of early defensive breakdowns last year and gave up just one goal in the second half, before posting a regional quarterfinal win over Yorktown.

The Huskers avenged that loss Saturday when senior M Ryan Vogel snapped off four goals and the Huskers blew open a 6-5 halftime lead with six unanswered second-half goals for a 12-5 NYS Region 1 championship win over the Silver Warriors.

“We knew this was a revenge game for us because they ended our season last year, so we were very motivated to win,” Vogel admitted. “Our offense and defense is clicking at the right time and we will continue to build off this.”

Yorktown will now head back to the Albany region for Wednesday’s Final 4 showdown with top-ranked South Shore (19-1) at SUNY Albany. The winner will advance to Saturday’s 3:00 p.m. state championship at Hofstra University to face the semifinal winner of Section 4 Vestal vs. Section 5 Victor.

Against Nisky, Vogel got the Huskers on the board in a hurry before good-looking Yorktown sophomore M Brady Sheridan drilled the first of his three goals at 5:51 of the first for a 2-0 lead.

Huskers Gianluca Marchini, J.T. Carney (2G, 1A), Dylan DelVecchio, Sheridan, Weissman (2G, 2A), Drew Weissman (2G, 2A) and Vogel have gotten into a serious rhythm and can thank FOGO Chad Bowen for a lot of that. When Nisky pressed the Huskers in the second quarter, Bowen dominated the X after halftime and presented a ton of opportunities.

Sheridan’s third goal of the game opened the third-quarter scoring at 6:19 and sophomore G Hunter Mezzatesta (6 saves) was shining on the other end. The rout was on when Vogel followed Sheridan at 5:36, and Carney popped again (from Marchini at 3:55).Weissman followed suit (from Carney) to open the fourth at 8:29 before Carney (at 5:10) and Vogel (at 4:19) put a bow on it. The final 4-5 minutes were nothing more than a formality.

Against Greeley, Quakers Matthew Byrne (3G, 3A) and Jack Holub had the Greeley faithful  buzzing early and often while taking a 3-0 lead before the Huskers knew what hit them. Yorktown got off the mat quickly to stop the bleeding when Weissman hit his first. Moments later, Husker sophomore Carney (3G) and DelVecchio (2G, 1A), who were exceptional, bagged a pair of goals in the final 10.9 seconds of the first quarter to knot it up at 3-all.

“It definitely didn’t feel great going down 3-0,”  Vogel (1G, 2A) admitted, “but it was barely the middle of the first quarter, so we knew we had plenty of time to get our heads back in it, refocus and just play Yorktown lacrosse. It’s great to get Drew back. He’s one of our best players on offense and when he’s on the field we just click better on offense. We’ve got our eyes set on something bigger and we’re just going to keep on working hard in practice and hope to get it done.”

In the second quarter, Yorktown began to assert itself, resulting in a 5-5 halftime tie after Weissman scored (from Vogel) with 52.4 seconds to go. He then picked up a loose ball – jarred free by two-time All-American Chris Constantine – outside the crease and scored again with 27.8 seconds remaining before setting up DelVecchio with 1.3 seconds to play in the half. The frantic final minute changed the game’s momentum.

“Tough loss but overall we’re proud of the team and how we really finished the season strong,” said Greeley Blakeslee (4G, 1A), an All-Section junior middie with major upside in 2025. “We now know the taste of the section title and are even more hungry for it. I feel bad we couldn’t pull it off this year for our seniors, but I love the direction the program is heading. The Huskers had a strong FOGO and great poles. We started with the 3-0 lead, but they bounced back quickly and it was back and forth until the end of the second where the three quick goals in the last minute was, looking back, an unfortunate momentary lapse. Our goalie (Toby) Moskow really stood on his head and made some unbelievable saves for us, which kept us in it. He has been doing it all season. We are ready for next year and are coming for the chip, and we’d love another shot at Yorktown again and hopefully get some revenge.”

Chances are pretty good with all that both clubs return for the 2025 campaign.

Greeley’s Connor Lummel and Jack Holub each scored once and G Moskowitz made nine saves in defeat.

Huskers Marchini (1G), Constantine (1G) and Sheridan (1G) spread some additional wealth while Mezzatesta made 13 saves (several amazing) and Bowen (20/24 FO) owned the draw box.

“We made a couple of mistakes early on,” Yorktown Coach Tim Schurr said. “We got picked off for one of those early goals, and we needed to catch our breath, settle down and restore the confidence in what we could do. We were a little shaky to start but our defense is one of our strengths.”

Weissman has been a catalyst since his return. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“It’s only his second game back after the injury,” Schurr said of Weissman. “He showed you that he’s got good vision, good skills and is tough as nails. He’s just a terrific high school lacrosse player.”

Carney, just a pup, has emerged as a legit threat on attack.

“Early in the year we were begging Carney to try and dodge to goal and he wouldn’t do it,” Schurr said. “Today he did that three or four times and scored some big goals. This was a great game for him.”

Mezzatesta settled in after Yorktown’s shaky start defensively, according to Schurr.

“You know, this is a great year for goalies in Section 1, there’s a lot of really good goalies,” he said. “Hunter is exceptional. There were a couple of goals today that he definitely stole from them. I’d say he stole several goals from them.”

Schurr likes where the seven-time NYS champion Huskers are at as they brace for the powers that be on Long Island.

“I don’t know that we’re the dominant program in Section 1 again, I mean we’re pretty good when we play well,” Schurr said. “But we have our moments like every other high school team, but we’ve got some good senior leaders to lean on.”

CLASS D

PLEASANTVILLE is back in the NYSPHSAA Final 4 after making short work of Section 2 champion Schuylerville in Saturday’ 13-6 regional quarterfinal victory,  setting up Wednesday’s 3:00 p.m. semifinal at SUNY Albany where the state-ranked (No.2) Panthers (18-2) will face top-ranked Cold Spring Harbor out of Section 8.

Coach Chris Kear’s top-seeded Panthers repeated as Section 1 champions last Tuesday after a 6-5 triumph of No.3 Bronxville at Yorktown High School, securing their sixth sectional crown since 2015.

There is work to do this week in order to get the Panthers up to speed against a CSH team they’ve never beaten in four prior tries.

“We generated a lot of offense against Schuylerville, but didn’t can our shots,” Kear said. “This matchup on Wednesday is a game the kids have been thinking about since June 2023. They know that they have an outstanding opportunity to get redemption on this team who they respect as a formidable opponent. They are also aware that we’ve faced this team four times in our program’s history and we haven’t knocked them off yet. They are hungry, focused and they know what needs to be done. It should be a great matchup.”

Against Schuylerville, Hank McCourtney spotted Nick Reich for a low-to-high laser for a 1-0 P’Ville lead. Reich scored his second goal off a scrum in front, and Aidan Cotter followed to make it 3-0, Panthers, without All-American Daniel Picart tickling twine. However, senior D Aidan Picart’s pole goal spotted the Panthers a 4-0 lead as the horn sounded to end the first quarter.

The Black Horses made a bit of a run, cutting the deficit to 4-3 before Reich netted his third of the game and McCourtney his second for a 6-3 edge. Reich’s fourth goal of the day gave the Panthers a 7-3 lead they would take into the half.

Daniel Picart opened the second half scoring off a rough ride and failed clear by the Black Horses. After a McCourtney hat trick, Daniel Picart added another goal for a 10-6 edge and yet again, man-up, for an 16-6 lead. Erik Coleman padded the lead to 12-6, and the Panthers could sense Cold Spring Harbor from afar after David Hundzynski won 15 of 23 faceoffs to manhandle at the X.

“We’ve been getting ready for this game all year,” Daniel Picart said of the Long Islanders, which sent the Panthers packing in a 7-3 semifinal loss last June. “From the out-of-state games against these top teams to the team dinners, it’s all we talk about. And although we wanted to take it one game at a time, for 365 days we’ve been waiting for another chance to go at it with them. So, we’re gonna fix whatever is messing with our offense and finishing, and we’ll be ready for them.”

Just as Reich was prepared for the Black Horses.

“Nick has been pretty sick all the time, but he helped to wake everyone up on the offensive end today,” Picart said of Reich’s effort.

Reich, who was fine-dining on great feeds, was effusive in his praise for his teammates.

“All credit goes to our squad,” he said. “They had great feeds to me and set me up perfectly. Our D played outstanding again and we really picked it up as the game went on. We’ve been waiting all season and all year for this moment coming up on Wednesday. We’re all locked in, hyped up, and ready to do whatever it takes. It all starts at practice and everyone is ready to contribute all they can. We can’t wait.”

Against state-ranked (No.4) Bronxville (12-6), Pleasantville scored six unanswered goals before the Broncos’ zone defense figured out a way to contain the Panthers and crawl back in by scoring the next five goals before the defending champion Panthers ran out the clock in the end.

Daniel Picart (at 7:01), Reich (at 6:53 and 5:58) and Cotter (6:06) spotted the Panthers a 4-0 lead just over six minutes in. The Panthers added two more – a nifty Picart to Reich feed at 2:38 of the first and another whip from Daniel Picart at 9.7 off a slam-pick – before the quarter ended.

Reich (hat trick), Daniel Picart (2G, 1A), Aidan Cotter (1G, 1A), McCourtney (1A) and Emmet McDermott (1A) all found the score sheet in support of Panthers G Andrew Nessel (5 saves).

Give Bronxville all the credit in the world for making this a one-goal game, but what would anyone expect from a program that has won five sectional titles since 2011 and made nine championship appearances in that span (which includes 13 tournaments, no 2020 tourney due to Covid). Beneath the White Plains border, there is not a program in lower Westchester County with the pedigree of the Broncos, who are largely responsible for growing the game in their neck of the woods.

CLASS A

History has been on the line for CARMEL these past few weeks as Coach Matt Caione’s Rams (15-3) had the finest campaign in school history, including wins over Yorktown and rival Mahopac for the first time ever, a semifinal victory over then three-time defending Section 1 champ Scarsdale, and the program’s first Section 1 championship appearance last Tuesday when top-seeded and state-ranked (No.12) Mamaroneck notched a  14-9 victory over second-seeded Carmel at Yorktown High School.

The state-ranked (No.14) Rams simply didn’t have two things Mamaroneck did; depth and a true FOGO to contend with Tiger M Harlan Glassman, who won 15 faceoffs.

Ryan Aabel (4G), Matt Risley (2G,1A) and Thomas Connolly (1G, 2A) had the Rams up 5-2 in the opening minute of the second quarter. But keeping up with a traditional power like Mamo – who had the pedigree of winning five Section 1 titles between 2012 and 2019 while appearing in 10 of the last 11 championship games – became too much for the Rams, who allowed five unanswered goals from five different Mamo’ sophomores, who are sure to make life hell on Section 1 in 2025-26.

Adam Boeheim (1G, 1A) and Jake Lotz 1G each scored for the Rams, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset Tigers Jake Reese (4G, 2A), Luke Brennan 3G, 1A), Jude Miesner (3G, 1A) and Jared Rabina (2G), plus .

“Their fogo played a great game,” Risley admitted. “He gave them plenty of possession throughout the game and possession wins games. Then again, they are just a strong group all together. We came out exactly how we wanted, but didn’t have the depth we needed to stay at that pace all game. It was definitely sad playing my last game with the guys that I’ve been playing with all of my life but I couldn’t be happier getting to the point we did with this group. It’s a team and a run to the finals that none of us will ever forget.”

Mamaroneck went on to defeat Shenendehowa, 7-5, in the NYSPHSAA regional quarterfinals Saturday and will face Section 8 champion Farmingdale in Wednesday’s semifinal at SUNY Albany.

NOTEWORTHY: The powers that be might need to rethink the NYS playoff format, given the fact that seven of the nine teams in Class B were awarded a first-round bye, and the only two teams that weren’t on a first-round bye were the two top-ranked teams in the state, whereby No.1 Southside knocked off No.2 East Islip, 12-9, for the Long Island title, in the only opening round game of the tournament. There has to be a better way to configure the brackets when the top two teams in the state are forced to face each other in the opening round of the tourney. Perennial powers from Section 8 and Section 11 deserve a fair shake, which, IMO, they ain’t getting with this current setup.

 

RAY GALLAGHER/ANDY JACOBS PHOTOS