Seaford Defense Stymies Mineola Boys Lacrosse

There was not much positive for Mike Perro to reflect on after Tuesday’s tough 16-4 loss at .

“We got good play out of the bench,” mused the coach of the Mineola boys varsity lacrosse team. “Alan Clarke got his first two goals as a varsity player. And it was good to have Tommy Redmond back to help us with faceoffs.”

Small consolation for Mustangs fans, whose team was unable to solve a stingy zone defense, and had a tough day on the defensive side of the field as well.

The bottom line was that after an uneventful first quarter Mineola fell behind 14-1 by the end of the third and were ultimately only able to muster four total goals.

The loss continued a winless streak in Conference IV play for Mineola (0-4, 4-7 overall), while Seaford evened its conference record at 2-2 and 6-2 overall.

Matt Moro notched 9 saves in the Mustangs net while the Viings split goalie duties between Joe Kirincic (4 saves) and freshman Andrew Sappia (6 saves), but were scarcely tested as the Seaford defense kept the visiting Mustangs from mounting anything resembling a meaningful offensive challenge through much of the game.

“This is the first time we saw a zone defense,” Perro said. “Our offense just couldn’t get past that.”

But it wasn’t the defense that put 16 points on the board for Seaford – ball control on offense and a potent shooting game for the Vikings spelled disaster for Mineola. “Our defense fell off after the first quarter,” Perro acknowledged. “It just evaporated today.”

The scoring did not come quickly at first – in fact, things were knotted at 1-1 with only a minute or so left in the first quarter, on a Spencer Wolf goal in a man-up situation, before the Seaford offense came alive. Two quick goals with less than a minute left put Seaford up by a narrow 3-1 margin after the first frame.

The second quarter was all Vikings, the goals coming fast and furious as the home team amassed another 10 points on the board while completely suppressing the Mustangs offense.

If there was any thought of a comeback on the Mineola sidelines as the third quarter opened, the home team quickly put that to rest with the Vikings’ 11th goal of the game on another man-up play – as both teams cleared their benches. In the fourth quarter, a goal from Brian Gaffney and Clarke’s two nets were just enough to make the final score somewhat respectable for the Mustangs.

Following the loss, Perro said the team’s biggest task is to regroup and prepare themselves for a contest .

“That game has playoff potential,” he said after the game. “It’s important that we do well.”

The game against the Rams is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. on Friday at .