In a “Battle of the Bulldogs,” visiting Roslyn got the best of Hewlett on Thursday afternoon to advance out of the first round of the Class B boys lacrosse playoffs to collect its first-ever playoff victory in school history with a 10-7 win.
Pat Woods led fifth-seeded Roslyn (10-6) with four goals and Michael Gray led fourth-seeded Hewlett (9-6) with two goals and an assist in the loss.
Jake Rivlin gave Hewlett an early advantage in the first quarter with a goal to put his team up 1-0 with 3:23 left. Roslyn found their offensive spark in the following quarter with four goals to go into halftime leading 4-3.
The surprising offensive surge continued over in the second half for Roslyn with four more goals in the third quarter. Hewlett added two more past goalie Michael Lefcourt to trail 8-5 after 36 minutes.
In the fourth and final quarter, Roslyn pushed the lead to 10-5 behind goals from Woods and Seth Bolnick. Hewlett got the goals back with scores of their own from Gray and Chris Loria.
In the end, the Roslyn goaltending and overall defense was too much as they ended the Hewlett season in a disappointing fashion on its home turf to advance to the second round.
Heroes: Woods was the top player on the field with four goals, including a leaping rebound goal off of an initial save from goalie Michael Fine in the fourth quarter. Lefcourt was outstanding in goal for Roslyn with 20 saves.
Turning Point: The goal by Woods in the final quarter gave Roslyn its biggest lead at 10-5 and distanced itself from a surging Hewlett team.
Quotable: “I thought they had a little more energy and passion than us. We got out-ground balled and out-possessed. Those are the two biggest things we are always harping on,” Hewlett head coach Chris Passuello said. “They were a good team and just had the ball more than us and won it.”
Bottom Line: The win by Roslyn was nothing short of historic for the school, but Hewlett was hoping for a much different result as it has now made the playoffs for 10 consecutive years. Roslyn will match up with top-ranked Garden City on Monday night at Hofstra University.
Key Stat: Roslyn goalie Lefcourt stopped 20 shots on Hewlett en route to the win.
Box Score:
Team Record 1 2 3 4 F #5 Roslyn (10-6) 0 4 4 2 10 #4 Hewlett (9-6) 1 2 2 2 7Goals-Assists: R: Woods 4-0, S.Bolnick 2-1, Rapone 1-1, A.Bolnick 1-0, Valderama 1-0, Shenfeld 1-0, Karp 0-1. Totals: 10-3. H: Gray 2-1, Loria 2-0, Geiger 2-0, Rizzo 1-1. Totals: 7-2. Goalies: R: Lefcourt- 20 saves, Godnick- 1 save; H: Fine- 6 saves.
