By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Marines, who finished 3-8-1 in Conference A-III last fall, battled Farmingdale to a 3-3 tie last Friday night and came back less than 16 hours later to topple West Hempstead on Saturday morning, 6-3.
Elmer Lazo, Mike Palacio and Mike Salgado provided most of the fireworks. Lazo followed up a two-goal effort versus Farmingdale by scoring four times against West Hempstead. Palacio scored the game-tying goal Friday night and added two assists on Saturday, while Salgado scored twice in the second game.
"We're looking to generate more offense, and I think we will," coach Bill DeFilippis said. "Our core players have played together for a few seasons, so we should have chemistry. We'll have to work a little harder on defense, but we don't have our full team yet."
The pressure will be off the defense if Lazo, Palacio, Salgado and Alex Yatagri continue at their early pace.
Palacio, a senior center midfielder, has played varsity since his freshman year and has led the team in assists in each of his three seasons. "Mike's the whole package," DeFilippis said. "Teams double him, but he still manages to make great passes. As long as the ball is on his foot, we're in good shape."
Lazo enjoyed an outstanding sophomore year, but struggled at times a year ago. He's a quality finisher who could be among the county's leading scorers. Salgado and Yatagri are juniors who last year gained valuable experience on varsity.
"This is the first time in a long time we've got four kids who can really put the ball in the net," DeFilippis said.
On defense, the Marines feature seniors Osman Mejia, Oscar Hernandez, Gami Rodriguez and Danny Rizza. The foursome will do the work in front of sophomore goalies Ben Windtrip and Christian Perez, who are likely to split time.
"The goalies are each playing a half until further notice," DeFilippis said. "We can win with either one of them."
Three more non-league games should have Long Beach well-prepared to battle Hicksville in the conference opener on Sept. 15. Hewlett is the pre-season favorite to win the six-team league, which sends three teams to the playoffs.
"It's a very competitive league," DeFilippis said. "We'll see how we do."
As strange as it may sound, the Marines don't make their home debut this season until Sept. 22, their eighth game overall. The good news is five of their last eight will take place at Long Beach Middle School.
