South Fork Boys Lacrosse Suffers First Losses of the Season, but There's Still Much To Be Positive About

After the South Fork boys lacrosse team’s quick start to the season a week prior, in which the team won all of its first three games, its mettle was tested last week, facing teams it has historically had a hard time with in both Northport and Sachem North. While the outcomes weren’t what the Islanders wanted, they still showed progress.

South Fork (2-2 in Division I, 3-2 overall, 95.40 power points) led host Northport, 4-1, after the first quarter on April 2, and still led, 6-5, by halftime, only to see the Tigers come back in the second half to win the game, 14-9. In the previous three contests against Northport, dating back to 2021, South Fork had only managed three goals in each match and lost by an average of nearly 13 goals.

“I think we just ran out of gas late,” South Fork head coach Matt Babb said. “It was a long bus ride in pouring rain against a team we have not had any success with in the past, and we entered being down a starting midfielder.

“The way they competed throughout that game against an opponent that allegedly has seven DI commits playing for it — as told to us after the game by complimenting parents — was remarkable,” he added. “Leading for the majority of the game, we feel we let that one slip away with our lack of depth at midfield being a key contributor late in the game. We ask a lot out of our top midfielders, and it definitely takes a toll and shows in contested games such as these.”

The Sachem North game, which was played at Hampton Bays High School on Thursday, April 4, was a closer game, but one in which the Islanders only led for a brief moment, when Hampton Bays sophomore Luca Lattanzio found East Hampton senior Charlie Corwin with 3:03 remaining in the first half to put them up, 4-3. The Flaming Arrows scored before the end of the half to tie it at halftime, and despite multiple opportunities, South Fork tied the game, but never regained the lead.

After Hampton Bays senior Isaiah Lattanzio scored to bring South Fork within a goal of Sachem North’s lead at 10-9, the Islanders went scoreless over the next 8:30 of the game before East Hampton senior Luke Castillo scored with 2:23 remaining to make it 12-10, which wound up being the final score. Luca Lattanzio had to fight for the ball along the end line with multiple Sachem North defenders, but he did and found Castillo for the goal.

Corwin and Isaiah Lattanzio each scored three goals in that game and East Hampton senior Jack Cooper won 20 of his 25 faceoffs to bring him up to a nearly 75 winning percentage on the season.

“The Sachem North game is another one we feel we could and perhaps should have won,” Babb said. “Again, we have not had much success against them in the past. We got some of the midfield depth problems solved with Alex Davis playing a tremendous game defensively. Brayden Talmage and Cole Belvedere also contributed key minutes that helped preserve Jack and Charlie. We are going to need more of that going forward.

“We had some bad penalties and made a number of mistakes, including a turnover on our first possession of the fourth that resulted in a Sachem goal,” he continued. “But we answered right back winning the faceoff and scoring at the 10:53 mark making it a 10-9 game. Then we had about four and a half minutes of back and forth, where we had a few bad penalties that led to another Sachem goal. We dominated the time of possession during the last two-plus minutes, but just couldn’t seem to get the shots to go in. We watched the game the next day and pinpointed some of our errors throughout the game and look to make those on-field adjustments this week.”

After hosting Westhampton Beach in a nonleague game on Tuesday, South Fork is scheduled to play at Middle Country this Friday, April 12, at 4:30 p.m. and will then host Lindenhurst at Southampton High School on Tuesday, April 16, at 5 p.m.

Babb said that while the losses to Northport and Sachem North appear to have hurt them in the standings at the moment, it’s still early and there’s still time for the ground to be easily made up.

“Because of the ranking system, I believe wins last week would have helped us more than the losses actually hurt us, so, the team was instructed to forget about them and focus on the next one,” he said. “We told the team on day one, that they don’t fully understand the talent or potential they actually have. I think last week they saw how good we are and can be. We talked about how nothing will be given to us and we have to go out and earn every victory by playing complete games.”