Sailors overpowered by Farmingdale

After putting on a dominant performance in the first round of the Nassau Class A boys’ lacrosse playoffs, No. 8 Oceanside ran into a buzzsaw in the form of top-seeded Farmingdale in the quarterfinals at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium May 23.

The Dalers, who had their hands full with the Sailors in the first half of their regular-season meeting April 12 before pulling away to win by four, came out firing on all cylinders and built an eight-goal halftime lead on the way to a 17-10 victory.

Korey Hendrickson scored a career-high six goals, Pat Starke had a hat trick and Brian Prendergast chipped in two goals and three assists to lead the offensive barrage for senior-led Farmingdale, which sent 51 shots in the direction of Oceanside junior goalie Andrew Failla, who made 11 saves. The Sailors got three goals and an assist from senior John Remsen and a pair of goals from senior Austin Akner.

“We played really well [last Friday] against MacArthur, but we never got into any kind of rhythm offensively today,” Oceanside coach Bob Moltisanti said after the game. “Farmingdale did a good job taking away our strength and scored some goals on unsettled situations,” he added.

The Sailors took a quick 1-0 lead on a Remsen goal at the 2:44 mark, but it proved the only shot of the half to elude Dalers goalie Mike Palmer (10 saves.) Farmingdale scored twice in 31 seconds midway through the opening quarter and was off to the races in the second with four different players (Hendrickson, Starke, Sal Tuttle and John Ragno) getting goals. It was 8-1 at halfitme.

“Not to make excuses, but at times we had sophomores and freshmen out there playing against All-County seniors,” Moltisanti said. “Our guys played hard and made them work for everything. They’re just a very strong team.”

A wide-open third quarter featured 13 goals. Oceanside got six of them and still saw its deficit swell to 15-7. 

Sophomore Will Remsen opened the second-half scoring and John Remsen followed with his second goal of the day. Senior Chris Hughes, who had 30 goals and a school single-season record 58 assists this spring, made it 9-4 before the Dalers stepped on the gas again and scored five straight to put the outcome in little doubt late in the third quarter.

“They tried to lock down Hughes and shut him off the ball,” Moltisanti said. “Other guys needed to pick up the assist part of the game, but we weren’t consistent at it.”

Seniors Nick Sherry, Joe Swanson and Greg Gilbert added goals for the Sailors, who were coming off a 15-6 first-round victory over ninth-seeded MacArthur May 20. Hughes posted three goals and four assists, Gilbert scored four times and Will Remsen had three goals and two assists.

“Anytime you make the playoffs and get to Hofstra, you’re happy,” Moltisanti said. “The tough part is saying goodbye to all the seniors.”