South Side edged by Bethpage

South Side was forced to fight an uphill battle throughout its Nassau Class B boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal playoff matchup against Bethpage at Adelphi University on May 15, and though the Cyclones rallied back twice to tie they never got over the top.

Bethpage got the eventual winning goal off the stick of Bobby Chillianis with 5:17 remaining and ended South Side’s season with a 6-4 decision. The Golden Eagles, who never trailed and got goals from five different players, won 10 of 14 face-offs and advanced to meet Lynbrook in the semifinals. For the Cyclones, freshman Mike Leake scored twice, and juniors Luke Scaduto and Dylan Crossan each added a goal and an assist.

“It’s disappointing because we had a real special group of kids that worked really hard,” South Side coach Steve DiPietro said. “Coming from where we were last year, it was like night and day. We thought we deserved a better ending, but only one team goes home truly happy at the end of this.”

The Cyclones scored the lone goal of the third period on a rocket into the top corner from Leake to make it 3-3, but Bethpage scored three straight to open the fourth, the last coming from Dennis Costa with 3:50 remaining, to lead 6-3.

South Side (11-6) made one last push, killing a two-man disadvantage thanks in large part to goalie Dennis LiCalzi (10 saves), and getting a goal from Crossan with 1:24 left, but a couple of late turnovers allowed Bethpage to hold on.

“I thought our face-off kid [Michael Sforza] and our zone defense were the keys,” Golden Eagles coach Erwin Dill said. “South Side always has a good team. We watched some film and knew this would be a close game.”

Goalie Matt Hanley made 10 saves for Bethpage, which led 2-0 after the first quarter on goals by Phil Fraher and Steve DiSalvo. The Cyclones pulled even with goals four minutes apart in the second quarter from Scaduto and Leake, but they trailed 3-2 at halftime following the first of Brian Seiter’s two goals.

“We had great chemistry,” DiPietro said. “Tonight we didn’t do enough offensively. You’re not going to win many games scoring four goals, especially against a good opponent in the playoffs.”

South Side, which finished in second place in Conference B1, needed six tallies to get past Roslyn in the first round on May 12. Junior Thomas Moore got the winner in the 6-5 triumph at Skelos Sports Complex with 8:09 remaining. Senior Brian Hurwitz, who had 31 goals on the year, led the way with a hat trick. “Roslyn’s goalie made 15 saves and we hit the pipe five times,” DiPietro said.