South Side's win streak ends

Leading Bethpage by two goals entering the fourth quarter of last Friday’s Nassau Conference B-II boys’ lacrosse matchup, South Side appeared on its way to a fourth straight victory.

However, the desperate Golden Eagles, coming off an upset loss to Lawrence, scored less than a minute into the fourth and again with 1:10 remaining in regulation to force overtime, where Bethpage’s Joe Tierney won it, 7-6.

“It’s disappointing,” South Side coach Steve DiPietro said. “I thought we played well enough to win, but we had chances to seal the deal and we couldn’t do it. Our offense disappeared in the second half and they made some big plays in the end.”

Bethpage possessed the ball for the duration of OT, which lasted 3:23 of the four-minute period. Tierney’s winning goal was his fourth of the afternoon and third in a row after sophomore Mike Leake scored what proved to be South Side’s last goal to make it 6-4 with 5:57 left in the opening half.

Following a scoreless third quarter, Tierney cut the margin to one just 55 seconds into the fourth and then got the equalizer after intercepting a clear attempt at midfield and racing untouched to beat Cyclones senior goalie Dennis LiCalzi (12 saves) on a breakaway.

“We made the road a little more difficult for ourselves,” said DiPietro, whose team dropped to 3-2 in conference games and 4-7 overall. “We were playing well coming into today and did a nice job weathering the storm in the first half. We knew they’d come out strong, but we matched their intensity and got two quick goals.”

Sophomore Ryan Langdon, who had six goals and two assists during the three-game winning streak, stayed hot and opened the scoring 1:22 into the game and senior Thomas Moore tallied 26 seconds later for the Cyclones, who never trailed during regulation and had six different goal scorers.

Tierney’s first goal of the day came with 54 seconds left in the first quarter and made it 4-4. South Side, which also got goals from seniors Luke Scaduto and Stephen Parker in the quarter, scored the only two of the second and led 6-4 at halftime after senior Will Rosa regained the lead and then assisted on Leake’s goal.

“We’re getting some guys playing with more confidence now,” DiPietro said. “We’re capable of hanging with anyone. It’s just that our margin of error is small.”

South Side was coming off an 8-7 victory over North Shore two days earlier. Langdon had the winning goal with 2:36 remaining. Senior Dylan Crossan and junior Andrew Livingston had two goals apiece. “Our schedule is always brutal early in the season,” DiPietro said. “It’s always been our philosophy that iron sharpens iron.

“The game against North Shore was our best performance to date,” he added. “We were down, we were up, went down again but the kids fought back and showed a lot of character. To score four in the fourth quarter was big.”

After facing defending Nassau and Long Island Class B champion on Lynbrook earlier in the week, the Cyclones are back home this Friday for a 4:45 p.m. start against Division at Skelos Sports Complex.