Tom Rooney’s first game as head coach of the boys lacrosse team ended in a win at the season opener against the Locust Valley Falcons in Tuesday afternoon.
Rooney spent 11 years in the Syosset lacrosse system and was its defensive coordinator. At Tuesday's game, however, he was not happy with Port’s performance on the defensive end.
“I thought defensively we played with our sticks instead of playing with our feet, we weren’t physical enough on our slides, and overall we didn’t play good team defense,” the first-year head coach said.
Since 2008, Port Washington and Locust Valley have played each other at the beginning of the season. The Vikings have now beaten the Falcons four of these five matchups. However, Rooney was impressed with what he saw from the Falcons.
“This is one of the better teams in the county,” said Rooney. “They’re going to surprise a lot of people.”
The Vikings offense, meanwhile, proved to be a force to be reckoned with. John Crawley scored four goals on seven shots; Jake Froccaro had five goals on ten shots. Rooney also highlighted Richard Greenberg (one goal), John Obadia (one goal), and Luke Rizzo (one goal, two assists) as offensive players who performed well.
Eighth grade goaltender Nick Ferrero made nine saves in his debut on the varsity squad.
Hero: Up one goal with 3:30 left in the game, Froccaro gracefully broke in between two defenders, picked up a ball that was slashed away from him, and whipped it into the Locust Valley net for what would end up being the game-deciding goal.
Froccaro has committed to to play lacrosse for the Tigers in the spring of 2013.
Turning Point: From the opening faceoff, the Vikings took control of the first quarter, outscoring their opponent 6-2. Locust Valley fought back, but it was too little, too late.
Quotable: “I thought it was a great win for us, being the first game of the season, but I’m a little disappointed in how we played. Obviously it’s early, we’ve only been practicing for two or three weeks, but there’s a lot of things we can correct,” said Froccaro.
Bottom Line: While it was a nonconference match, both teams showed some rust in their first time back on the field. The pace was fast and goal-scoring was prevalent. The Vikings got big performances from Froccaro and Crawley and will need to play big games they expect to win in Conference A.
Who’s Next: Hauppauge @ Port Washington, Thursday 4:30 p.m.
