Sunday, June 3, 2018: Islip topples Cold Spring Harbor in quarterfinals

   Leading off today: "Eight seconds left. No timeouts. What could I do? I had to go to the rack," senior Jeff Atlas said after his goal with 7.4 seconds left gave Islip an 8-7 victory over Cold Spring Harbor in the NYSPHAA boys Class C lacrosse quarterfinals.

   It was Islip's first boys Long Island championship. Cold Spring Harbor was the three-time defending New York State Public High School Athletic Association champion.

   Atlas wasn't the first option on the decisive goal. Islip coach Keith Scheidel drew up a play during a timeout with 1:12 to go, and the intent was to feed leading scorer Mike Bienkowski off a screen.

   "But they shut off that play, so we went to Jeff," Scheidel said.

   Teddy Bentley scored a hat trick for Cold Spring Harbor, which tied the score on Chris Mormile's unassisted goal with 6:38 to play.

   Another champ ousted: Junior midfielder Noah Raymond scored the winning goal 18 seconds into overtime to cap Chenango Forks' rally for a 9-8 win over Syracuse CBA in the Class D quarterfinals.

   Raymond, junior Jared Gage and sophomore Kevin Matson each scored twice as the Blue Devils eliminated the defending state champs. Guari Reyes made 10 saves for the Blue Devils.

   Chenango Forks trailed 8-4 late in the third quarter before rallying.

    • Chenango Forks' opponent in Wednesday's semifinals will be Penn Yan, a 12-11 winner against Akron.

   Akron scored six straight goals before Penn Yan's Devon Gerhardt connected with just 0.4 seconds left in the first half, cutting the Mustangs' deficit to 6-3.

ADVERTISEMENT

   Akron pushed its lead back up to 8-4 late in the third quarter, but Austin Blumbergs and Chase Blumbergs scored 33 seconds apart to get Penn Yan within 8-6 heading to the fourth. Conner Fingar scored twice within 20 seconds for a 9-9 tie with 8:18 left.

   Fingar gave Penn Yan the lead with 2:10 remaining, but Akron's Kaleb Delaney forcing overtime when he scored with :17.2 left.

   Nisky still alive: Niskayuna rallied from a six-goal deficit with 13 minutes to play to take the lead five minutes later, fell behind Mamaroneck again by two and then reeled off

NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse brackets NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse brackets NYSPHSAA baseball brackets NYSPHSAA softball brackets Past years' brackets

three straight scores en route to a 14-13 win in Class A.

   Griffin King tallied six times and Drew Collins scored the winning goal to set up a semifinal against defending state champ Ward Melville.

   "This is a team that has heart, definitely. We really showed that today," senior midfielder Eoghan Sweeney said. "We got down, but pulled it off. We're really looking to finish strong after that win."

   In a span of 4:40, Niskayuna turned a 10-4 deficit into an 11-10 lead as Sweeney kept winning faceoffs. Sophomore attackman Finn McCullough scored the goal to put Niskayuna up 11-10, only to see the Tigers regain their composure and take a 13-11 advantage with 5:56 left.

   Collins fired a no-look shot over his shoulder to tie it 13-13 with 2:12 left. Sweeney once again won the faceoff, quickly outletting the ball to Tyler Gregory, who found Collins open in the front of the net. Collins faked and then fired home his third goal with 2:03 remaining for what proved to be the game-winning score.

    • Ward Melville kept its hopes of a repeat alive with an 8-5 win over Massapequa as Matt Grillo scored two goals.

   Massapequa closed to within 6-4 before Ryan Pallonetti went down the left alley uncontested for a goal with 7:14 left. The Chiefs countered 34 seconds later, but the Patriots iced it when Dylan Pallonetti's hard shot was initially stopped only to have the ball pop loose and into the cage.

   Nisky still alive: West Seneca East recovered from a 6-2 deficit and edged Geneva 8-6 in Class C as Danny Flynn finished with three goals.