Syosset’s Defense Steps Up In Win Over Southside

After two very competitive game’s against Garden City and Smithtown West, two of the best team’s in the country, the Syosset Braves lacrosse team was still searching for its first win of the season. 

Facing a 0-3 start, the Braves would need to execute both offensively and defensively in order to secure the season’s first victory on the road against a very good Southside team that had beaten the Braves at the beginning of last season.  

Led by Syosset’s defense and All-American goalie, Ryan Feit, Syosset played their greatest all around game of the young season which lead to a 8-4 win over Southside.

Syosset’s defense did a great job winning the ground ball war and advancing theball in transition. After a dominate first quarter defensively, Syosset only led Southside by two after goals from Alex Hatzopoulos and Matt Raffa. 

In the second quarter, Syosset would score three more goals to give the Braves a 5-0 halftime lead. Alex Concannon scored two of the goals in the second quarter and has been playing at an extremely high level for the Braves early on this season with six goals in the past two games.

In the second half Southside never had an opportunity to come back on the Braves because of how well the defense played. Seniors Kyle Haber and Harry Schoenhaut as well as freshman EJ Aronson did a great job at communicating with one another and prevented Southside from gaining any momentum. 

Haber, was even involved in the scoring action as he ran coast to coast unguarded by any Southside defender and fired a shot across the plane for a goal to give the Braves a 6-1 advantage.

After Macaire O'Keefe scored his first goal of the day to give Syosset a 7-2 lead, Andrew Keith scored his second goal of the game to give the Braves their final goal of the day and an 8-2 lead.  

Calabria, elected to pull his starters for the concluding minutes of the 4th quarter which allowed Southside to add two more goals. 

The Braves defense played so well that Feit only had to make two saves in the victory after having to make fourteen in each of the team’s first two games. Feit credited his offensive and defensive players around him for making his day uneventful.

“Our defense played outstanding today,” Feit said. “Our offense finally clicked and it was really nice to see.” 

Senior John Diaz, played well for the Braves in the victory tallying an assist and winning twelve out of fifteen face-offs. 

Concannon, spoke about his team’s performance after the game. “I thought we did a great job at bouncing back after our two losses,” Concannon said. “I thought we played with fire and we showed what type of team we are.”

Syosset head coach John Calabria was pleased with his defenses performance. “I thought Kyle, Harry, and EJ really stepped up today,” Calabria said. “They did a great job at executing coach Waxer’s game plan of stepping out and putting high pressure on the ball.” 

The Braves aggressiveness early on helped propel the team to victory. Haber thought the team played with tenacity right from the start of the game. “I think we came to play today,” said Haber. “We had to go after it early on and I think we played with tenacity right from the start. The whole team played well and we knew coming in that we weren’t going to leave the field 0-3.” 

With the win Syosset improves its non conference record to 1-2. Syosset’s next game is a non league matchup at home against Manhasset this Saturday.