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The joy was right there on all those faces. The Garden City and Manhasset players had their respective celebrations on Hofstra’s turf that same Sunday last June.

Garden City had become the victor over Victor in Class B. Manhasset ruled over Jamesville-DeWitt in Class C.

Both Nassau boys lacrosse teams had won back-to-back state championships.

At least one of them won’t win back-to-back-to-back state championships.

Garden City has new, quality company this season in B. Manhasset has moved up from C world.

The heavyweights will square off in the regular season at Manhasset in the annual Woodstick Classic on April 20. In the postseason, though, one won’t even get out of the county if both make the title game. And there’s a formidable South Side team that will hope to spoil both their championship team dreams.

“Playing [Manhasset] once is more than fine,” Garden City coach Steve Finnell said. “It is what it is. They’re back in the Bs . . . I think there’s three really good teams in the Bs this year amongst others. But I think those are the three elite teams, Garden City, South Side and Manhasset.

“But, yeah, it’s the oldest rivalry in the country, 1935. I’ve been part of it as a player and a coach now, an assistant coach and head coach for a number of years. It’s a unique experience when you play one time. It’s more intense I guess you could say.”

They’re in the same class for the first time since 2019 when Manhasset edged Garden City in double OT for the Nassau B title.

“It’s never easy with those guys,” Manhasset coach Keith Cromwell said. “From their coaching staff to their players, they do a phenomenal job . . . They provide a challenge, but I feel it’s a challenge that always brings the best out of our guys.”

Garden City’s guys are ready to embrace that challenge, too.

“It definitely makes things a lot more interesting,” senior defenseman and Princeton commit Matt Kephart said. “They’re a great program, great coaches, great players that we’ve played against growing up.

“I would say we’ve never been a team to shy away from a difficult game or adversity.”

A Garden City-Manhasset meeting for a county championship would qualify as a difficult game for both sides.

“If we make it there, I think it’ll be a pretty cool game,” Kephart said. “Two storied programs. But [there are] a lot of good teams in Class B and we’re not getting too ahead of ourselves.”

Manhasset, the Nassau C champ the past three years and currently ranked 10th in the country by USA Lacrosse, lost several talented players. But the defense has four starters back, including physical seniors Jack Mulholland and Jack Morrison. Senior goalie Matthew Im is a steady third-year starter.

“We have an extremely talented and experienced defensive side of the field this year, with a lot of guys who have played a lot of big moments here at Manhasset, and a lot of seniors that have been with us for two, three, four years,” Cromwell said. “So we’ve got a lot of experience on that side of the field that we’re going to be leaning on."

Junior Danny Kolin, who scored 34 goals in 2023, and senior Patrick Arnold are threats as attackmen. Senior midfielders Mikey Mondiello and Luca Petruccelli are three-year varsity veterans. Senior Rowan Collins and junior Arek Cellura have been disruptive as long stick midfielders.

“We want to be that last team standing in June in our conference,” Cromwell said.

The same for Garden City.

“We have some of our key guys back from last year, which is great,” Finnell said.

The Trojans, who have taken three straight county and Long Island crowns in B, are led on the defensive side by senior goalie Denis Fargione and senior defenseman Matt Kephart.

Lefty-shooting senior attackman Andrew Ottomanelli scored 42 times last season. Senior midfielder Carson Kraus has also been excelling offensively.

“We cross our fingers,” Finnell said. “We hope we’re the most balanced across the board. Manhasset loses a two-time All-American faceoff guy in Cal Girard, [Nassau] Player of the Year last year. South Side has the top faceoff guy [Michael Melkonian] back.”

Farmingdale, under new coach Eric Dunne, features All-America senior attackman Brendan O’Keefe and is going for a repeat in Nassau and Long Island Class A after making the state final.

Northport, under new coach Billy Cordts, is going for its fourth straight Suffolk A championship.

West Islip beat East Islip in the Suffolk B title round in 2023. But East Islip is looking like a stronger threat now.

Wantagh fell in the Nassau C final last season — to Manhasset.

Shoreham-Wading River is the defending Suffolk C champ. Coach Michael Taylor is especially wary of Bayport-Blue Point. But the Wildcats appear loaded again for a repeat attempt with 13 seniors returning.

“Almost our entire offense except for two players [are back], and we’re returning our starting goalie [senior Jaden Galfano] and our entire defense from last year,” Taylor said. “So I feel like we have the players to do it.”

The Wildcats’ top players are Duke-bound senior attackman Liam Kershis and Johns Hopkins-bound senior midfielder Liam Gregorek.

“Both of them are definitely premier players, not only on Long Island, but I believe probably in the country at the position, especially Liam Kershis,” Taylor said. “He’s truly a guy that everyone is going to have to be aware of because he’s just so commanding on the field.”

Cold Spring Harbor is the two-time defending Class D state champ. The Seahawks beat Mattituck/Greenport/Southold in the Long Island championship. It’s now just Mattituck/Southold, but the team has veteran defenders and is hoping for another shot.

And then there’s St. Anthony’s. The Friars are riding a streak of four straight CHSAA state titles and are No. 2 in the country in both the USA Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse rankings.



By: Brian Heyman
brian.heyman@newsday.com
X/Twitter: @bheyman99

There’s no doubt in the talent Manhasset has on its boys lacrosse team. It showed when it became state champions for the second consecutive season in 2023.

That’s what we see: long sticks punishing attackers and short sticks slotting in goals. But what often gets overlooked is the number on the jersey, and for three Manhasset stars, there is a special meaning that transcends the sport they learned to love.

Seniors Patrick Arnold and Jack Mulholland will wear No. 4 and No. 44, respectively, and senior Mikey Mondiello will wear No. 32 to continue the legacies of Manhasset alumni who passed away.

“It is a great honor to represent those numbers,” Mondiello said. “It reminds you that you’re playing for something bigger than yourself.”

Mondiello’s No. 32 stands for John Driscoll, who passed away in 2002 after a six-year fight with brain cancer. Driscoll was a high school All-American and two-time Nassau championship game MVP when he played at Manhasset in 1975 and 1976. The Nassau County Lacrosse Coaches’ Association created the Driscoll Award in his honor, which is given to the best midfielder in Nassau each season.

“The No. 32 is always a big announcement at the beginning of the year,” Manhasset coach Keith Cromwell said of the two-decade tradition. “We’ve had some great players represent that number.”

This is the first year Manhasset is honoring '4' and '44.' Arnold’s No. 4 represents brothers James and Michael Farrell, and Mulholland’s No. 44 represents Ryan Kiess. The three alumni, who were childhood friends, passed away along with their Uber driver, Farhan Zahid, after a car going over 100 mph swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with the Uber in July 2021. James Farrell and Kiess were 25, and Michael Farrell was 20.

The tragedy led the Farrell and Kiess families to connect again with Cromwell and the Manhasset lacrosse program where the two families bonded and played together. The families visited practices at the beginning of the season to share stories and speak with the team, and they still go to games.

“They love the fact that they’re seeing those boys' jerseys out on the field and being remembered that way,” Cromwell said.

Cromwell and his coaching staff chose Arnold, Mulholland and Mondiello after talking with the families and sharing opinions. Mulholland’s physicality on defense felt reminiscent of Kiess’ strength, which he showcased both at Manhasset and the University of Scranton.

“My parents have known the Kiess [family] a very long time,” Mulholland said. “It was just nice to see [both families]. We got to talk to them, we got to hear about their sons, and it was just a great experience to talk to them about it.”

Cromwell coached Michael Farrell, calling him a “key contributor” to Manhasset’s lacrosse program. That was just on the field, though. Off the field, Cromwell said Farrell’s “contagious personality” stood out and connects him to Arnold today as the spirit of Manhasset’s team.

“[Michael] had a great smile, he was great around the other guys,” Cromwell said. “I thought Patrick embodied that, the way his personality was. We thought it was a good fit for him to wear No. 4 this year.”

Arnold said his older brother, Edward, was best friends with Michael Farrell. The two won a county title together with Manhasset in 2019, with the family connection making Arnold’s involvement even more personal.

“I’m a very talkative person," Patrick Arnold said. "I bring a lot of energy — I think it’s important for our team to win — and honestly, I get it a lot from seeing Michael at my house growing up, seeing James and the way they played. I always adored them, looked up to them and the way they carried themselves. I give credit to them for helping me become who I am today.”

Michael Farrell went on to play club lacrosse at Villanova, and his brother James captained the lacrosse team at UPenn. Arnold’s No. 4 covers the brothers poetically as both wore the number in high school, with James Farrell also wearing the storied No. 32 for Driscoll in his senior season.

“I grew up looking up to Michael and James,” Arnold said. “It felt like such an honor to even be recognized for wearing that number to try and carry on their legacies and everything they stood for.”

Driscoll’s number being passed down is a longer tradition within Manhasset, something Cromwell said Mondiello earned after being part of two state championship teams while improving his game year after year.

“It definitely feels very special,” Mondiello said. “I grew up watching all these kids with No. 32 and hearing the significance of the number.”

The program has a saying — it’s even written in the student section of the stands of Manhasset — “Legends live forever.” As Arnold, Mulholland and Mondiello raise their sticks and scoop up ground balls, those legends live on as part of the program to which they gave so much of themselves.




By: Michael Sicoli
michael.sicoli@newsday.com

The Cold Spring Harbor girls lacrosse team’s motto this season is “finish business.” And so far, the Seahawks have been doing just that.

Attack Amelia Bentley scored three of her five goals in the first quarter in Cold Spring Harbor's 13-6 win over host South Side in Nassau Conference I on Saturday. The Seahawks improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

“So far, she’s been super consistent for us,” Cold Spring Harbor coach Danielle Castellane said. “She really owns her position. She’s able to dominate the X [area] day-in and day-out, and as a senior she acts as our quarterback.”

Bentley said that having experience playing together throughout the offseason and being able to trust one another helps the offense click on the field.

“We’ve trained really hard together throughout the winter,” Bentley said. “Playing with each other so often has helped our communication and has just helped our chemistry overall.”

Coming off two big non-league wins, an 11-7 victory over Penfield (Rochester) on Thursday and an 8-6 triumph over the reigning Class B state champions Victor on Friday, Castellane said it was important for her team to get the victory in-conference.

“This was our third game in a row and I think some of our girls are starting to feel it,” Castellane said. “It showed a lot of poise and confidence in our group that we were able to have such a dominant performance [Friday], and come back and do it again in-league.”

Kelly Callaghan added three goals and two assists, Maggie Spehr had two goals and one assist and Ruby Spielberger added two goals.

“A big part of our game is that anyone on our team can be a goal scorer, a dodger, or a feeder,” Callaghan said. “We are all very versatile and we’re all able to create opportunities for one another.”

Caitlin Haggerty had two goals and three assists and Charlotte Rathjen scored three goals for South Side (1-2, 0-2).

Although the offense had an impressive showing, Castellane says her team's success wouldn’t have been possible without goalkeeper Maya Soskin (19 saves).

“Her making saves was the reason the offense was able to have the ball so much,” Castellane said. “We weren’t dominating at the draw which has been a struggle for us, but having Maya be hot in goal has given us those opportunities.”

Cold Spring Harbor will have just one day off before it faces Long Beach on Monday in another Conference I matchup.

“Having so many games back-to-back, we haven’t been able to rest and scout the teams we’re playing properly,” Bentley said. “We’ve just had the mentality that we need to show up and play our game for the full four quarters, and so far, it’s been working for us.”




By: Jolie Katzen
jolie.katzen@newsday.com
X/Twitter: @joliekatzen