Roller-coaster season for Seaford

An up and down Seaford boys’ lacrosse season ended in disappointment following a hard-fought first round exit to third-seeded Carey in the Nassau County Class B playoffs.

The Seahawks scored twice in the fourth quarter and blanked the Vikings over the last 12 minutes for a 7-5 victory and a date with No. 2 Manhasset in the quarterfinals.

Seaford, which moved up to Class B for the 2014 campaign, ended its season at 9-7 with three losses by two goals or one. “We lost a lot of close games unfortunately,” Seaford coach Mike Corcoran said. “We were right there. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

The Vikings hung tough with the Seahawks despite losing each of the game’s 16 faceoffs to Carey’s Brett Campos, who is one of the best on Long Island at draws. “Those possessions meant a lot,” said Corcoran of how important faceoffs played in the season-ending defeat. “[Campos] is very good.”

Seaford’s close setback to Carey came nearly a month after a 15-11 loss to the Seahawks in a game where the Vikings trailed by 10 goals entering the fourth quarter. Carey had one of its most successful reason seasons in recent history at 11-5 and 7-3 in Conference B1.

A major reason why Seaford hung tough with Carey and had a winning season was the strong play of senior goalie Andrew Sappia. The Mercy College bound netminder recorded 16 saves in what ended up being his final high school game. “He was phenomenal,” said Corcoran of Sappia. “He kept us close.”

 Another senior who stepped up in his final Seaford game was James Curley, who scored two goals. Curley, who earned All-County honors as a junior, missed five games midway through his senior season.

Other goal scorers against Carey included Bobby Buell, Danny Connell and Matt Murphy.

“It was a good effort but we just didn’t score enough goals to win,” Corcoran said. “It’s disappointing to be one and done.”