Offense clicks in South Side win

South Side couldn’t have picked a better time to put together its best offensive half of the season.

The eighth-seeded Cyclones exploded for 10 second-half goals — five apiece in the third and fourth quarters — to pull away for a 14-7 victory over No. 9 Jericho in a Nassau Class B boys’ lacrosse first-round playoff game last Friday night on the turf at Skelos Sports Complex.

Senior Zach Scaduto had five goals and junior Cole Considine added two goals and two assists as South Side (10-6) advanced to meet top-seeded Garden City in the quarterfinals this Friday at Hofstra at 6:30 p.m. Corey Bogdan had three goals and two assists for the Jayhawks, who never led but trailed only 4-3 at halftime.

“We’ve been in tight games all year,” Cyclones coach Steve DiPietro said. “Some we pulled out; some we didn’t. Consistency has been a problem, and we came out of halftime thinking we had to win the third quarter to win the game. We were able to get a few quick goals and go from there.”

Junior Eric Gennari got the fireworks started 1:12 into the second half with his first of two goals. Following one of senior Sean Kenny’s 15 faceoff wins, Scaduto netted his fourth of the game less than a minute later for a 6-3 lead. 

“This was the last home game on this field for Zach and the rest of our seniors,” DiPietro noted. “They didn’t want it to be a loss. We protected our home field well all year, going 7-2.

“They really didn’t have an answer for Zach,” he added. “He was aggressive every time he touched the ball and is never one to shy away from going into tight spots to get a shot off.”

After Jericho, which is coached by former South Side coach Joe Baccarella, answered with goals off the sticks of Matt Marcus and Bogdan to cut the deficit to one, the Cyclones stepped on the gas to regain some breathing room. In a span of 2:26, Scaduto, Considine and Peter Clark all beat Jayhawks goalie Max Adler (10 saves) to increase the lead to 9-5.

South Side carried a three-goal cushion into the fourth and got goals in the final 12 minutes from Gennari, Hunter Rainis, Billy Moore, Connor Daly and Jordan Titus on the way to punching its ticket to Hofstra. Junior goaltender Chandler Baylis made five saves.

“We have a great opportunity now,” DiPietro said of facing undefeated and heavily favored Garden City (16-0) next. “Obviously, Garden City is super talented and ranked No. 1 in the country. Nobody is expecting anything from us, so we can be loose and play hard and see what happens.”

The Trojans beat Division, 11-3, in the first round and haven’t allowed more than five goals in a game since April 14 — a stretch of nine outings. “I’d like to see us just play our best game and let the chips fall where they may,” DiPietro said.