Lynbrook's run ends in finals

Lynbrook avenged a pair of regular-season defeats in the Nassau Class C boys’ lacrosse playoffs to advance to the title game where the Owls ran into juggernaut Cold Spring Harbor, which won its third straight county championship with a 16-2 victory at Hofstra on May 30.

The undefeated and top-seeded Seahawks (17-0), who seek a third consecutive state crown, were led by Nassau leading scorer Ian Laviano’s five goals and two assists giving him 97 points on the year. Kane Jaklitsch and Matt Licciari added four points apiece. All-County selections Mike Bouhall and Eddie Perlstein scored for No. 3 Lynbrook, which finished 10-8 overall.

“We wanted to have a better showing,” Owls coach Bill Leighley said. “We felt we were prepared, but we didn’t execute and Cold Spring Harbor is a great team. We knew we needed to play perfect to have a shot.”

Leighley, who guided Lynbrook to Nassau and Long Island Class B championships in 2014 and a third trip to the county finals in four years, isn’t big on consolation prizes but nonetheless is pleased with this spring’s run.

The Owls closed the regular season with three wins in their last four games, losing only the finale at Cold Spring Harbor by a 17-9 margin, and turned the table on two rivals when it mattered most. They opened the playoffs May 17 with a quarterfinal round 11-8 win over Floral Park, avenging a 7-5 defeat three weeks earlier, and knocked off No. 2 Locust Valley in the semis, 12-9, on May 26, flipping the same score from roughly a month earlier.

Perlstein, a senior, scored the go-ahead goal against Locust Valley with 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter to snap an 8-8 tie. The Falcons led 6-3 midway through the second quarter, but a pair of late first-half goals gave Lynbrook momentum. “We started to kick into gear with our pace and I think we wore them down in the second half,” Leighley said.

Bouhall, a junior, had the most productive game of his varsity career with three goals and five assists. Junior Matt Renz added three goals and one assist, senior Kyle Yeager had two goals and two assists, and juniors Garrett Handel and Tommy O’Brien added important tallies. Senior All-County goaltender Ian Proefriedt made 14 saves.

“Ian was sharp against Floral Park and even better against Locust Valley,” Leighley said. “We don’t get to the finals without him.”

Yaeger, an Honorable Mention All-County attack, finished the season with 40 goals. Four of those came in the playoff win against Floral Park. Perlstein had two goals and dominated on faceoffs. On the year, Perlstein won 213 draws against 94 losses, a 69 percent success rate. “Eddie was an absolute iron man,” Leighley said.

Senior Nick Paris, an All-County selection, spearheaded the defense and played in his third county title game in four years. Junior Tommy Urena (Honorable Mention All-County) and sophomores Joe DeMonte and John Dibenedetto were also defensive workhorses in front of Proefriedt.