Ward Melville Boys Lax Staves Off Northport

The good news is that the Ward Melville boys lacrosse team is through to the Suffolk County Class A semifinals. The bad news is that a similar effort on Friday would likely spell the end of the Patriots' season.

Senior Tyler Hegarty fueled a five-goal second-quarter spurt that created distance between the hosts and seventh-seeded Northport, but while the Patriots maintained that edge throughout the second half and recorded a 12-9 victory, head coach Mike Hoppey saw evidence that Ward Melville should watch its step in the next round.

"We had defensive breakdowns, we failed to clear the ball, we were sloppy offensively and we took bad shots with a big lead," Hoppey said. "I could probably go on and on."

They'll go on to Friday's semifinal showdown with third-seeded Smithtown West, which handled Lindenhurst Wednesday afternoon. In their first meeting, Melville's Sean Cleary scored 31 seconds into overtime to beat the Bulls, 10-9.

"With [Kyle Keenan] back, they're playing as well as anyone on Long Island," Hoppey said of Smithtown West, which has won 11 of 12 games since the loss to Melville, with the only loss coming by one goal to West Islip. "If we play like we did today, we'll be in trouble."

The game was tied at 4 when Ward Melville's attack caught fire and built a five-goal lead. Hegarty struck with just under nine minutes left in the second quarter, and his tally at the 6:55 mark ignited a three-goal spree over the span of less than a minute.

"We had a couple breakdowns that led to some transition plays, and for good teams in transition, it's money in the bank," Northport head coach George Searing said.

Northport answered the run with a pair of scores, and Tom Cordts made a save at the buzzer to keep the score at 9-6.

Ward Melville (16-1) scored three straight to start the third quarter, including the fourth and fifth goals of the day by Hegarty. The UMass-bound attackman is no stranger to big offensive games – he's hit for as many as six this year – but this one came when his team needed him the most.

"We've been waiting for Tyler to have a game like this for a few years," Hoppey said. "He's finally developed into somebody who could be one of the top scorers in the county. We need him to keep it up."

At that point, a Tiger comeback appeared unlikely but their defense buckled down, holding the Patriots scoreless for the game's final 19 minutes.

"It's not a good sign," Hoppey said. "Two times we had a five-goal lead and could have put them away and twice we weren't able to do it."

Instead, Northport (9-8) trimmed the lead to 12-7 after three quarters and made it 12-9 on two goals just 17 seconds apart in the fourth.

Sean Gilroy and Matt Sarcona combined for seven goals to lead the Tigers, and John Trainor was the lead distributor, racking up three assists. Cordts was marvelous in net, making 16 saves. Northport reached the playoffs by going 8-6 in League I and knocked off Middle Country 16-3 on Friday to reach the quarterfinals.

"We let [Ward Melville] get out a little bit too far, but we kept going, and that's been the character of this team," Searing said. "If a few more go in in the fourth quarter, you never know. ... We have a nice group of seniors but we also have some young guys at key positions, and they showed that they can play with a real good team like Ward Melville."

Cleary and Jim Coughlan each had two-goal days for the Patriots, and John Edmonds and Jack Bruckner each registered one-goal, one-assist efforts.