Hewlett shows early promise

In one sense, the future is now for the Hewlett boys’ lacrosse team.

Any coach with 11 seniors on his roster would consider himself well stocked, and Bulldogs coach Chris Passuello is no exception to that rule. 

It doesn’t hurt that the particular seniors on his roster include Sam Martorella, Mark Rizzo, Jared Brent and Michael Fine – a midfielder, two defensemen and an all-conference goalkeeper, respectively. A year from now Martorella will be playing for the University of Michigan, Rizzo for North Carolina, Brent for Wisconsin and Fine likely at some other prestigious school of his choosing. This spring, however, all of them will be wearing blue and grey and playing for Passuello. In that sense the Bulldogs are poised to offer plenty of resistance in a very competitive Conference B-II right now.

In another sense the future for the Bulldogs is, well, the future. Passuello and his staff got a glimpse of that promise in Hewlett’s season-opener on March 21, a 16-3 victory over Great Neck South, as junior Zach Richman scored four times and sophomore Kevin Fuchs added three goals and an assist. Passuello said that Richman, Fuchs and sophomore middie Jimmy Anderson are “key guys” for this year’s team and the nucleus of next year’s. Martorella (two goals, two assists) and Rizzo (one goal, three assists), along with fellow seniors Spencer Locke (two goals) and Jeremy Tarica (one goal), also had a big hand in the win over Great Neck South. Junior Spencer Posner scored twice. Fine stopped four shots before yielding to sophomore Justin Isaacs.

Three days later the Bulldogs showed they’re not yet a finished product. They, in Passuello’s assessment, “had a bad second quarter” and subsequently fell behind Baldwin 7-3. Three late goals cut the deficit to 7-6, but that’s how it ended. Richman had three goals and an assist in that one. Martorella, Fuchs, Tarica and Anderson also scored.

The Bulldogs fell to Manhasset 10-2 on March 27, but there’s no shame in that. A lot of teams this season will wish they had lost to Manhasset only 10-2.

“They’re such a quality program,” Passuello said. “We played hard.” Hewlett was within 4-1 late in the first half, before Manhasset scored a late goal. “They really wear you down and they don’t make mistakes. It was good to play them early.”

Martorella and Anderson each found the net once against Manhasset, which was fitting. Martorella, the Michigan-bound senior is one of the reasons the Bulldogs feel so good about where they are. Anderson, the tenth-grader, is a big reason for Passuello’s optimism about where they will be a year from now.

The Bulldogs are back in action Saturday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at home against Holy Trinity. The conference schedule resumes April 18 under the lights when South Side visits for a 7:30 p.m. face-off.