By Steve Siniski
But even with a step up in competition, not much has changed for the school's program. For the fourth straight season, Lynbrook (12-5 overall) finds itself in the finals with a chance to advance to the Long Island Championship against either Comsewogue or Hauppauge on June 4, at 5:30 p.m. at Hofstra. The No. 3-seeded Owls were set to square off with top-seeded Garden City on May 29.
Experience is absolutely essential, Lynbrook coach Larry Glenz said regarding one of the biggest keys in the title game. You've got to have guys that have been there before and we do have some.
The Owls have ridden the hot hand of goaltender Tommy Skartsiaris, who stopped 31 shots in his first two postseason games, as well as an excellent team defense to knock off No. 2-seeded Wantagh (11-6) and sixth-seeded MacArthur (7-5) in the first two rounds of the postseason.
Those last two games have been Tommy's best by far, Lynbrook coach Larry Glenz said. He's relatively experienced, as he's in his second year, but he's really come on strong for us. The defense is better in front of him and he's facing more shots from the outside, but his ratio of shots and goals given up has been much improved.
The Owls and Trojans met once during the regular season, and Garden City came away with a 13-10 victory, although it took a monumental fourth quarter (five goals) to hand Lynbrook the second of its five regular-season losses.
Garden City doesn't give up many goals and we scored almost all of ours [eight] in the first half, Glenz said of his team which put more tallies on the board than any other Trojans' opponent.
The Lynbrook defense, however, will look a little different in the rematch, as the Owls have ridden the successful transition to a zone to the Championship Game. We started using the zone for the first time in five years after the loss to MacArthur [April 27], Glenz said. Garden City passes the ball into the crease better than anyone, and that's how you beat a zone. So we're going to have to mix things up and not let them figure out our pattern defensively.
On the offensive side of the field, decision making will be the key for Lynbrook.
We have to know when to go to the cage on a broken play and when to hold back and set up, Glenz said of the split-second decisions that must be made when the Owls cross midfield. It all starts with our midfielders and attackmen. They can go to the cage and score quickly, or they could turn it over just as fast. The bottom line is that we have to find the balance offensively.
With All-American attackman K.J. Sauer slowed by a hamstring injury over the last three weeks, the Owls have called on the duo of Adam Mahfouda (four goals in two playoff games) and Steve Prehoda (2) to handle the all-important role of taking faceoffs, and the two have handled the role well. Andrew Maini and Mike Doneger each scored three times for the Owls in the first two rounds of the postseason.
