Eagles Boys Lacrosse Beats Deer Park, 10-5

The Hauppauge boys lacrosse team clinched a 10-5 victory over Deer Park on Tuesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive. Junior captain Sam Llinares stepped up his game to lead the Eagles offense after three starting attackmen were sidelined by injuries.

Score: Hauppauge 10, Deer Park 5

Records: Hauppauge 4-6, Deer Park 5-5

Heroes: Llinares led Hauppauge’s offense, scoring three goals and making three assists, despite frequently being double and triple teamed by the Deer Park defense. 

“We were missing a couple of key guys tonight due to injuries. So a couple of guys had to step in and as a captain, I felt that I had to hold up my end of the bargain and get everybody involved tonight,” Llinares said. “That’s exactly what we did tonight, and it was a great team win.”

Tom Kelly, Steve Favoroso and Chris Jacovino were pulled from Tuesday night’s starting lineup due to their injuries.

Deer Park took an early 1-0 lead in the first quarter on Tuesday night, but the Eagles controlled the tempo for the majority of the game as their aggressive, swarming offense began to click. Llinares fired a shot past Deer Park goalkeeper Jim Dougherty to tie the score at 1.

Llinares shot from 15 yards out into the lower left corner of Deer Park’s goal to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter. 

Turning Point: Hauppauge scored three goals in a two-minute span midway through the third quarter to take a 6-2 lead.

David Hwang scored came midway through the second half, assisted by Llinares, to give Hauppauge a 4-2 lead. Llinares scored his third goal for a hat trick seconds later, followed by a goal from Rob Longo to make it 6-2. Deer Park scored the next two goals to climb within two points of tying the game, but the Eagles offense still had plenty of fuel left in its tank.

Other scorers included Tom Galarza with two goals, Dan King and Frank Scozzari. Hauppauge dominated the fourth quarter to finish strong, winning 10-5.

Quotes: “Our defense really won the game for us tonight,” said head coach Jerry Goodfellow. “They stood strong, played as a unit and did a great job. My goalie also came up big for us tonight.”

Hauppauge goalkeeper Tyler Donovan recorded nine saves, including two big stops at the beginning of the second half to preserve the Eagle’s momentum.

Key Stat: Backup goalkeeper David Hwang scored the first two goals of his varsity career while filling in as an attack man on offense.

Bottom Line: This was a must-win game for Hauppauge to its playoff hopes alive. 

“We’re on the playoff cusp, so every win counts now,” Llinares said.

“We probably have to win three out of our last four games to have a shot, so this win was definitely important tonight,” he added. “It’s a good start.”