Syosset 'D' Stops South Side, Lose 11-7

For the second straight game, South Side couldn’t hold a lead.

Despite scoring the first goal 49 seconds into the game and getting an offensive explosion from Zach Scaduto — he finished with four goals and an assist — the Cyclones lost to Syosset, 11-7 at home on Thursday.

“They played a high pressure defense against us, and we had problems early; we had a hard time adjusting to it,” Cyclones coach Steve DiPietro said. “When we got back to basics, you saw what we can do, the goals came easy; we just couldn’t sustain those runs.”

The Cyclones were ahead for less than a minute before the Braves went on a first-quarter run, scoring three goals to take a 3-1 advantage after the first 12 minutes.  South Side found its groove in the second quarter behind two more Scaduto goals, giving him a first-half hat trick, but they couldn’t hold the momentum. Syosset outscored South Side 4-0 in the third quarter, which effectively put the game away.

“We knew one of these 0-1 teams would come out and change things,” Syosset coach John Calabria said after the game. “We were just able to open things up and found our groove. We’re just lucky it was us. We settled down and everything was clicking. We were phenomenal on defense, and we definitely got better from last week so I’m happy with that.”

The Braves defense was the difference maker on Thursday. With seniors Alirio Demeireles, Andrew Tranchina and sophomore Kyle Haber, the Cyclones couldn't sustain any offensive rhythm and saw very few clean shots on net. Empire player sophomore Ryan Feit, who finished with 10 saves, handled any shots on goal.

“We have two seniors and a returning sophomore who play well together in the back," Calabria said. "They follow the plan, and we believe we might have the best goalie in the county, he’s shown that ability.”

 DiPietro agreed that Syosset's defense was tough to score against.

“They have three Empire kids, and their goalie made some nice saves,” he said. “We couldn’t really attack against that high pressure defense. Whenever we turned our back, there were two or three guys on us.”

Despite another loss, the Cyclones have reasons to be optimistic. Scaduto finished with four goals, and star attacker Bryan Gerrato added two of his own. Against such a difficult non-league schedule, South Side should be prepared for when it start its conference schedule.

 “There’s a lot to be happy about," DiPietro said. "Scaduto got back on track, and [Dominic] Moriarty looked alright in the cage. This is why we’re playing such a tough schedule. I want them to learn from their mistakes and to remember this feeling and to use it as fuel when we get to the heart of our schedule.”