Cyclones Storm Past Kennedy, 10-6

A little fog couldn't stop the South Side Cyclones boys lacrosse team from continuing its undefeated start in Conference B-I, as a 6-2 first half propelled the Cyclones to an 10-6 win over the Kennedy Cougars at Kennedy High School.

Peter Clark got the scoring started for South Side three minutes into the game.

Things remained quiet until the closing two minutes of the first quarter when Zach Scaduto put the Cyclones up 2-0, before Kennedy's Zac Shuldiner cut the lead in half just seconds later.

South Side's Patrick Finnerty scored on a wrap-around shortly after Shuldiner to bump the lead up to 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.

The same combination of goal scorers all struck again in the second quarter, which saw the Cyclones take a 6-2 lead heading into the half.

A goal apiece from Finnerty and Scaduto put South Side up 8-2, but the Cougars closed out the third quarter with a ton of momentum. Goals from Andrew Brancato, Chris Jones and Shuldiner saw the lead cut in half once again.

Goals from South Side's Bryan Gerrato and Shuldiner made the score 9-6 before Clark added one more, as the Cyclones took the game 10-6.

“We came out strong. I think we definitely came out a lot stronger than the last games that we had," Finnerty said. "We’ve been putting in new plays and we’ve been setting up new defenses. We’re putting everything together and this is kind of the game to do that. I think we did as much as we could today.”

Clark finished with three goals for South Side and Gerrato finished with one goal and two assists. Scaduto added three goals and two assists and Finnerty had three goals and one assist.

Shuldiner led the way for the Cougars with four goals, while Matthew Gavigan had three assists. Kennedy's Patrick Grillo made 12 saves in goal.

Score: South Side 10, Kennedy 6

Records: South Side 3-0 (6-3); Kennedy 1-4 (5-7)

Heroes: Finnerty and Scaduto did a lot of damage controlling the ball for South Side. They also combined for nine points, including six goals and three assists.

“They’re both experienced guys, they played all year last year, so I expect them to do the right things," South Side head coach Steve DiPietro said. "We have other opponents coming up that we know we’re going to need to continue to play hard for and these guys are going to have to lead the way in those games as well. I expect what I’m getting from them, so it’s a good thing.”

Despite letting up 11 goals, Grillo was solid in between the pipes for Kennedy and made a lot of big saves to keep the games within striking distance for the Cougars.

“Patrick has been one of our consistent guys throughout the season," Kennedy head coach Craig Papach said. "He’s a very mellow kid and he comes up with the saves he’s supposed to. You can see a highlight film every game [with him].”

Turning Point: The Cougars were on a roll after the third quarter and looked like they might come back, but Gerrato's early goal, followed by Clark's shortly after put the game out of reach.

Quotable: “We’re pleased with the effort," Papach said. "We scored six goals against an excellent team. … Defensively and offensively it was a total team effort and it was something hopefully we can build on going into the end of the season.”

Bottom Line: South Side has been on a roll so far in league play, but has two big games ahead against Wantagh and the always impressive Garden City Trojans.

“We’ve been a little inconsistent this year. We have a mix of some youth and some leadership. I like the way we came out and responded," DiPietro said. "I think we could have had a couple of other things go our way, but yeah I’m certainly happy we got the win. But we still have a lot of work to do.”

Kennedy's 1-4 league record is no indication of how good the teams is. Papach was more than impressed with the way his team played against a tough South Side squad.

“We’re very, very pleased with the effort," Papach said. "Our season’s been up and down. We lost a couple close games, we won a couple close games. We’re coming off a real bad loss … and I didn’t know what team was going to show up today, and we played very well against one of Nassau’s best Class B teams."

Who's Next? April 29, Levittown-Division @ South Side, 4:30 p.m.; May 10, Kennedy @ Jericho, 4:30 p.m.

Box Score

Goals-Assists (SS): Scaduto 3-2, Finnerty 3-1, Clark 3-0, Gerrato 1-2, Moore 0-1, Tita 0-1, Waxon 0-1, Considine 0-1. Totals: 10-9; Goals-Assists (JFK): Shuldiner 4-0, Brancato 1-0, Jones 1-0, Gavigan 0-3, Racalbuto 0-2, Diana 0-1. Totals: 6-6.