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Sports

Double OT Heroics Earn Win for Mineola Lacrosse

Josh Lopes rebounds off Spencer Wolf shot for 9-8 victory over Glen Cove.

For weeks Mineola boys lacrosse coach Mike Perro has been drilling it into the ears of anyone who will listen that this is , that his young team has got to learn how to win.

Tuesday afternoon against Glen Cove it seems as though the team fully applied the lesson.

With just five minutes remaining in regulation and Mineola (0-0, 3-3) trailing by two in a game whose momentum they had let their opponents take from them, the sun broke through the western clouds and shone through mist over the fields of Glen Cove High School in a fit of weather conspiracy that would put Hollywood scriptwriters to shame – and the suddenly resurgent Mustangs scored three goals inside the space of a minute to regain a lead they had squandered.

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Though Glen Cove (0-0, 1-4) managed to even it up and force the game into overtime, the Mustangs then prevailed, scoring a minute into sudden death double OT to win the non-conference match up by a score of 9-8.

“That was exciting lacrosse,” Perro said after the dramatic come from behind victory. “Too exciting!”

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In fact, Mineola, playing with a new defensive starting line of Charles Attard, Dylan Dombrowski and JV recruit Justin Oomen, looked to be dominant over the home squad on Monday afternoon.

The Mustangs lept out to an early lead against a Glen Cove squad which, though it boasts some impressively sized players, fielded a squad with no more than three or four players on its bench.

By contrast, the Mustangs bench was large enough to provide its own cheering section as their team jumped out 4-1 by 8:23 in the second quarter.

But for the rest of the half and the entire third quarter, it was all Glen Cove as the Knights piled it on, using an effective fast break and generally outplaying the Mustangs on a 5-1 run. With a quarter to go, “Big Red” was sitting on a 6-5 lead, and an early goal in the fourth put Mineola into a hole from which other teams might never have dug themselves out.

That’s when the sun came out, for Mineola at least. With 5:05 showing on the clock and in its fourth man-up situation of the day, Nick Fabiano found Brian Gaffney in front of the Glen Cove net for a flea-flicker, Gaffney’s fourth goal of the day. Moments later it was Fabiano’s turn to convert with the game tying shot, followed by Spencer Wolf (2 goals, 1 assist) 30 seconds later to put the Mustangs up 8-7.

Though Glen Cove managed force a double overtime, the inspired play of Mustang goalie Matt Moro (17 saves, six during overtime) kept Mineola alive, allowing the offense to hammer home the win on a rebound goal by Josh Lopes, off a Wolf shot, for the sudden death win.

“We let them back into it,” Perro said. “For a lot of the game, we couldn’t shoot. Their goalie was good, he was putting it on his stick. We got the ball to the shooter, but we weren’t making our shots.”

Mineola Friday, April 8 for its first conference match of the season.

1 2 3 4 OT 2OT F Mineola 2 2 1 3 0 1 9 Glen Cove 1 2 3 2 0 0 8 Mineola Scoring Statistics Player Goals Assts Brian Gaffney 4 1 Spencer Wolf 2 1 Nick Fabino 1 1 Tyler Cashin 1 0 Josh Lopes 1 0 Tim Gill 0 1 Mineola Goalkeeping Saves Matt Moro 17
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