Cyclones Cruise to 14-4 Win Over New Hyde Park

After a playing a stretch of three games in four days, the South Side boy’s lacrosse team successfully capped off the week with its fourth consecutive win, rolling New Hyde Park 14-4 to nab its first league win on Friday.

Eight Cyclones scored in the win, allowing head coach Steve DiPietro to rest some of his starters and find minutes for his backup goalies — Chandler Baylis and Brian Beaudet — who each played a half.

“I think it’s important to find time for our backups in a game like today," DiPietro said. "It’s great for the morale of the team. We all want to see them do well, and feel that it validates all the work they put in during practice.”

With star Bryan Gerrato resting on the sideline, it opened the door for some less-heralded Cyclones to grab valuable minutes. Senior Patrick Finery finished with a hat trick, and juniors Zach Scaduto and Peter Clark each had two goals. Hunter Rainis, Conor Semple, Eric Gennari and Cole Considine each added one of their own in the rout.

“I was worried about potentially taking them too lightly, and not coming out with the intensity and focus that we need, similar to what happened [against Lynbrook] Thursday,” he said. “I was glad to see that we came out and got the job done, and we got to rest some of our starters.”

South Side improved its overall record to 4-3 and is now 1-0 in league play. With the victory, the Cyclones extend its impressive conference-winning streak to 28 games, which dates back to 2007. They will put that streak on the line when they travel to Carey next Wednesday, in what DiPietro said will be a more even match-up.

“It’s good to get that first league win, and it’s extremely important with the way the playoffs are set up; hopefully we’re playing well when we get to the tougher games against Garden City and Wantagh down the road,” he said. “Carey is going to be a big game for us – it’s very important. They’re the five-seed, and we’re the three, so it should be tough. We hope to keep our [conference-winning] streak going and keep building some momentum for the tougher games we still have to play.”