Leading off today: Junior James Basile blast from a sharp angle with 1.6 seconds left carried
Garden City to a 7-6 victory over defending champion Victor in the NYSPHSAA boys Class B lacrosse championship game Saturday at St. John Fisher College.
Basile's third goal of the day gave Garden City its seventh state title and first since 2013. Victor had won the Class B titles in 2015 and 2017 and the A title in 2016.
Garden City surrendered a two-goal lead late, then got a another chance when Justin Coppola won the faceoff with 8.5 seconds left. Coppola passed to Liam Muldoon, who whipped a pass to Basile on the right wing. Coppola fired high, and the shot eluded standout goalie Chayse Ierlan.
Coppola won 12 of 14 draws in the final.
Ward Melville dominates: A year after scoring four times in the final 1:01 against Pittsford to force OT and winning in the last second of overtime, Ward Melville breezed to another Class A crown.
Ryan Pallonetti (three goals) scored in the first and third minutes for a quick 2-0 lead and Malachi McAvoy (two goals, one assist) and Zach Hobbes (two goals, one assist) scored 12 seconds apart to start the Patriots in their way to a 15-2 rout of West Genesee in Wildcats coach Mike Messere's final game.
Matt Grillo (four goals) triggered a running clock with three straight third-quarter goals that made it 14-2. Grillo, who had the game-winner in the 2017 title game, scored 70 goals in his senior season.
"If we shot it well, I knew that would be the result," Ward Melville coach Jay Negus said.
More boys lacrosse: Islip rode senior Mike Bienkowski's six goals to a 9-3 win over Westhill in Class C for its first new York State Public High School Athletic Association championship.
Bienkowski scored the first three goals of the game, then added another in the second quarter for a 4-2 halftime lead. His fifth in the third quarter, sandwiched around two Joe Juengerkes scores, made it 7-2.
"It's a feeling like no other -- to be the first team that did it is awesome," Bienkowski said. "There'll never be another year like it."
• In Class D, Pleasantville swamped Penn Yan with 14 straight goals to close out a 16-2 victory for its first state championship.
Jake Coleman led the way with three goals and four assists.