Leading off today: Four-year starter
Jamie Atkinson scored three goals as third-ranked Garden City edged No. 1 Manhasset 8-6 as two of the state's top teams battled for the Section 8 boys Class B lacrosse championship Tuesday.
Teddy Dolan made six saves for the Trojans, who avenged a loss to Manhasset in the 131st Wood Stick Classic in April.
Garden City built leads of 5-1 at the half and 7-1 in th third quarter before Manhasset began to chip away.
"You know Manhasset is not going to wave any white flags," Trojans coach Steve Finnell said. "In the third quarter there they went on a run and you felt like maybe the tables were going to turn like last year, but I think our defense played incredible."
In other Nassau County boys finals:
• Massapequa cruised past Farmingdale 12-3 in Class A for the ninth title in program history. Angelo Petrakis won 15 of 18 faceoffs, and Brendan Nichtern, Sat Lutfi and James Hall each notched hat tricks.
• Cold Spring Harbor coasted to its third straight Class C championship with a 16-2 win vs. Lynbrook behind Ian Laviano's five goals and two assists.
The win was the 25th in a row for Cold Spring Harbor, the two-time defending state champion.
"It was really a complete game," CSH coach Dennis Bonn said.
Laviano leads Section 8 with 61 goals and 97 points.
Pittsford wins: Pittsford scored the first six goals and went on to a 9-5 win over Fairport for the Section 5 Class A championship.
Jake Bucci scored his third straight goal for Fairport to cut the margin to 7-5. But after the Red Raiders failed to score on a two-man advantage, Sonny Imburgia and Patrick Mooney tallied for Pittsford 1:32 apart.
A Pal-Mac sweep: Palmyra-Macedon is reaping the benefits of this spring's expansion of the state tournaments from three classes to four, winning its first boys and girls championships Tuesday.
The boys defeated Honeoye Falls-Lima 16-11 in Class C behind James Blazey, who scored four times in a decisive first-half burst that made the lead 10-3.
Blazey finished with six goals and Jake Gallina had a hat trick.
"I can't put it into words," senior midfielder Nate Arnold told The Daily Messenger. "For the first time in school history, we're champs and it's a special feeling. This is 10 years in the making. ... All those practices inside and games in the cold when you couldn't feel your fingers. It's all worth it now."
In the girls Class D final, Pal-Mac dominated Penn Yan 16-5 as Emma Arnold finished four goals and four assists.
"I could just feel it in the air tonight that we would come out and pound it," said senior Aldyn Savage, who had two goals and two assists for the Red Raiders. "It's so relieving. We've been waiting so long for this."
More Section 5 girls: Canandaigua rattled off the final five goals in the game's final 11:33 and beat Webster Thomas 11-6 in Class B.
Section 1 boys: Making its 16th consecutive championship appearance, Niskayuna rolled past defending champ Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 18-6 in the Class B final.
Senior midfielder Lucas Quinn scored three times during an early 6-0 burst to build a 7-2 lead for the Silver Warriors. Quinn, a Syracuse recruit, finished with seven goals and an assist, and Connor Wolff scored four times.
Greenwich downed Cambridge 10-3 in Class D as senior Jack Pemrick scored four goals and added an assist for the Witches, who had won the past three sectional Class C titles.
Section 3 girls: Syracuse CBA came flying out of two lengthy rain delays with three straight goals each time and went on to a 13-6 win over Baldwinsville for the Class A crown.
The Brothers earned their sixth Section 3 title in the past seven years. Tessa Queri and Meredith Strott had four goals apiece for the defending state large-school champions.
