Long Beach Defeats Lynbrook, 10-9

It may have been a non-league game, but Thursday night's contest between the Lynbrook Owls and Long Beach Marines had all the energy and excitement of a playoff match-up.

In a wild, back-and-forth game that saw the two teams exchange leads four times, Long Beach (6-3 overall) held off Lynbrook (4-4 overall) in the game's final seconds for a 10-9 victory.

"Our kids played tough," said Lynbrook head coach Bill Leighley. "We ask them do a lot and they're doing it, but it didn't turn out the way we wanted at the end."

The Owls battled back from a two-goal deficit in the final five minutes of play. But Long Beach took a 10-9 lead with a minute remaining, setting up a somewhat controversial end to the game.

With about 12 seconds remaining, Lynbrook's coaches were screaming for a timeout but didn't get one until there were only eight seconds left. Then, on the ensuing play, Lynbrook's sideline was shouting about a Long Beach player being offside. But it was never called, and Lynbrook's Luke Spitzer — who had five goals and two assists in the game — couldn't get a shot off on a wraparound attempt as time expired.

"[Spitzer's] our heart and soul," Leighley said. "We've got a lot of great guys but I would go into battle with him. He's does a lot for us and we're looking forward to him remaining strong for the rest of the way."

Long Beach head coach Jim Kaspar said he knew his team would be up against a tough zone defense, and said they were fortunate to come away with a victory.

"We tried to do the best we could do and we lucked out at the end," he said. "We lucked out, we just got one more than they did. It was a good game — [Lynbrook] is well-coached. We got lucky."

Lynbrook opened the scoring four minutes in on a goal from Jared Kahn, assisted by Spitzer. But Long Beach exploded for three goals in 30 seconds at the end of the 1st quarter — two by midfielder James Forkin and the other by attack-man Joe Radin.

In the second quarter, with the Owls leading 4-3, Lynbrook's Connor Daly was called for slashing, putting the team down one player for a minute. But Owls goaltender Ethan Mirenberg was superb, making four saves to keep Lynbrook ahead at halftime.

With the teams tied at 7 in the fourth quarter, Long Beach midfielder/attack-man Connor Sofield finished off a feed from Radin to put his team up 8-7 with 5:18 remaining. Forty seconds later, Radin scored one of his own to put Long Beach up 9-7.

Lynbrook tied the game on two goals by Spitzer, scored within 30 seconds of each other. Long Beach's winning goal was scored by Forkin, assisted by Radin.

Long Beach was led by Forkin, with four goals. Radin had three goals and two assists. Midfielder Jake Shapiro had two goals and one assist; midfielder/attack-man Connor Sofield had a goal and an assist; and attack-man Tom Hamlet had one assist.

Lynbrook was led by Spitzer, with five goals and two assists. Attack-men Anthony Palmine and Steven Marrandino each had a goal and one assist; midfielder Andrew Mayer had one goal; and Jared Kahn had one goal.

For Lynbrook, Mirenberg had six saves (its backup, whose name was not listed on the roster, also had six saves). Long Beach goaltender Mike Rourke had 12 saves.

The two teams resume league play next week. Lynbrook (1-1 in its conference) will host Hewlett on April 27 at 4:15 p.m. Long Beach (3-1 in its conference) hosts Calhoun High School next Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.