South Side High School hosts its 5th annual alumni lacrosse competition

This Thanksgiving, while families gathered together to enjoy a delicious meal in the company of loved ones, filling their stomachs with delicious turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, more than 50 former South Side lacrosse players were gearing up for another holiday tradition in the Rockville Centre community.

Coach Steve DiPietro, the head coach of the boys’ varsity lacrosse team since 2008, first organized the South Side alumni lacrosse game in 2018 as a way to celebrate more than 30 years of the boys’ lacrosse program at South Side High School.

Each year, just after the Thanksgiving holiday, former Cyclones teammates go head-to-head in a full-length regulation exhibition match, ending in sudden-death overtime to determine who will take home the championship belt and bragging rights as the winning team.

This year was no different. South Side graduates going as far back as 1994 all took to the turf field on Friday, Nov. 24, for some friendly competition.

“We had a great turnout this year,” DiPietro said. “It’s always great to see all the alumni come together and the team we built. It’s a really special event every year.”

The two teams were divided up by the year they graduated, pitting the odds against the evens.

Last year, the odd-year team managed to pull of a win in a high-scoring event, ending 11-10 in overtime. This year, however, the evens changed the tide to defeat the defending champions in sudden death overtime with the final goal scored by Steve Serling with the class of 2006.