Playoffs: Lynbrook Eliminated by South Side, 12-4

South Side knocked off Lynbrook, 12-4, in Monday's quarterfinal at Hofstra University, earning the Cyclones a semifinal match-up with Garden City, the top-ranked team in Nassau County.

Peter Clark, Bryan Gerrato, and Zach Scaduto each scored hat tricks for South Side (11-5), while its defense shut down Lynbrook's (9-7) usually freewheeling transition play. The Owls definitely had scoring chances. but Cyclones goaltender Dominic Moriarty was a brick wall, stopping 13 of 17 shots.

South Side coach Steve DiPietro said that Lynbrook has eliminated his Cyclones two years in a row, and that the players used that as motivation to take down their cross-town rivals.

"We knew it was going to be a battle and I'm very proud of the way the kids responded," he said. "They wanted to make sure it wasn't three years in a row, and they showed it on the field."

Lynbrook came out firing in the first quarter, with star midfielder Luke Spitzer — who finished with a hat trick — ripping several shots high of the net before getting one by South Side goaltender Dominic Moriarty four minutes in. But Cyclones attack-man Peter Clark answered just one minute later, ripping a shot over the right shoulder of Owls goaltender Ethan Mirenberg (nine saves) to tie the score at 1. South Side never trailed again.

Down 6-2 at halftime, Spitzer pulled Lynbrook to within three with just over three minutes gone in the third quarter. The Owls even held South Side scoreless for the first half of the quarter, but the Cyclones would explode for four goals in the quarter's final five minutes.

The offensive surge was a back breaker for Lynbrook.

"They're always good," Lynbrook coach Bill Leighley said of South Side's team. "You just gotta find your opportunity to score and we didn't do that tonight. We couldn't score any in transition and that's kind of our nature — that's how we have to score."

South Side takes on Garden City (14-2) at Hofstra University tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Trojans defeated the Cyclones, 10-1, back on May 10.