[singlepic id=87 w=320 h=240 float=left]Yorktown. Consider yourself warned.

Fairfield Prep. Beware.

You too John Jay. And New Canaan. And Wilton. And all the teams on St. Anthony’s regular-season schedule.

Click here for a photo gallery from the Red/Gray Shootout at Somers.

If the team’s performance at today’s Red/Gray Shootout at Somers is any indication — and yes, it was a preseason event played with 23-minute halves and a running clock — the Friars may just be the best team in the entire region.

Of course, West Islip, Darien, Syosset and Yorktown — among others — may have something to say about that.

But performances don’t get much more impressive than the one St. Anthony’s enjoyed today.

The big news was the showdown between the Friars, who check in at No. 10 in the latest Inside Lacrosse national rankings, and Mountain Lakes, which is No. 4.

The Friars came out and controlled the ball for the majority  of the first half. Only a stellar performance by Navy-bound junior goaltender John Muti of the Lakers prevented it from a being a rout from the start. But even the solid and at times spectacular play of Muti couldn’t prevent St. Anthony’s from coming away with a 9-2 win. The Friars, who played mostly subs in the second half, led 4-1 at the half.

The Friars’ eight Division I-bound players includes five LaxLessons.com preseason Nassau/Suffolk players to watch.

Tom Schreiber, the No. 5-ranked junior in the nation by Inside Lacrosse, is a talented midfielder who appears to be headed to Princeton. Lefty attackman Will Manny was an offensive dynamo, including in a one-sided win over Don Bosco. Towson-bound Michael Keane was one of the team’s standouts on defense.

Mountain Lakes has its fair share of major D-I players as well, including two midfielders headed for Duke (Jake Tripucka and Greg DeLuca) and another (Chase Winter) who has committed to Hopkins. Winter and Tripucka are ranked among the top 20 seniors in the nation.Virginia-bound defenseman Scott McWilliams is the No. 2 junior in the country.

Though today’s event was obviously a preseason one, with coaches playing many different combinations and subbing freeley, in one of the biggest surprises of the day, Guilderland defeat Mountain Lakes 7-2. With good size and depth, Guilderland appears to be a program on the rise.

Ithaca-bound senior goaltender Luke Robinson came up big as Fox Lane picked up a 4-1 win over Don Bosco. Attackman Chase Beitzel, attackman/midfielder Connor Morris, midfielder Colin Dowey and defensemen Noah Hammer and Mike Froehlich all played well for the Foxes.

In the matchup of Westchester teams, Somers beat Fox Lane 7-2 behind the effort of Joe Marasco, who was able to score more than his fair of goals despite being the obvious focus of much defensive attention.

The Tuskers also got a big lift from the play of midfielders Dylan Haas, Matt Deiana and Rob Lombardo. Deiana and Lombardo, football stars for the Tuskers who opted not to play last season, have clearly given the Tuskers a boost. Deiana excelled on faceoffs and had several well-placed bounce shots on goals with his off-hand. Lombardo fired in a blast on a fastbreak against Don Bosco.

Somers, which has a good group of returning starters (including Marasco, Haas, Colgate-bound Erik Pfiffner and 6-5 defenseman Erik Zmuidins), also got strong play from attackman Greg Petre, attackman Cole Partenza and defensemen John Bello and Christian Smith as well as sophomores Eddie Schurr (defense) and Kieran Donohue (attack).

With most of  the six teams playing five scrimmages, there were plenty of exhausted players went action ended just after 3 p.m. But it was a well-organized and well-run event that seems destined to become an annual affair.

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Reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.

Posted In: Long Island lacrosse

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25 Responses to “St. Anthony's steals the show at Somers”

  1. jasper says:

    What was the score of the St A vs somers game

  2. Joe Lombardi says:

    St. Anthony’s won 8-3, Jasper.

  3. jasper says:

    how was somers goalie and defense?

  4. FriarTuck says:

    Hi Joe –
    I just discovered this sight today. All I can say is wow. Your writeup on the shootout today made me feel like I was there. I also enjoyed several of the other posts I have had a chance to read so far. Please keep up the superb work. The lax world is lucky to have someone with your knowledge and writing and reporting skills covering the fastest game on two feet.
    Cheers

  5. Jade56 says:

    Joe –
    Who was offensive MVP today in your opinion??

  6. TrevLax says:

    Hey Joe …
    Who do you think is better right now – West Islip, Syosset or St. A’s?

  7. midman24 says:

    Joe

    How was Somers goalie and defense? How

  8. S1wss says:

    WOW is right

    St. Anthony’s looks like one of the most complete team’s i’ve seen play high school lacrosse. I thought i was impressed watching John Jay make their run, knocking off Hunnington, well that game might get over shadowed in my memory when i go up to Yorktown and watch them take on this machine that is St. Anthony’s…. i’d love to be a homer and stick with the Westchester team but having seen St. Anthony’s and how much better they have gotten from last year, yeah I said “how much better”, when they played at John Jay.

    They have elite players at all positions and they have the best Attack in NY. Mahopac and Yorktown can argue for westchester. But Will Manny, Dante Fantoni (not sure how he isnt on the players to watch, this kid can light it up) and Schroeder, although if Schroeder plays middie you can give them the best Middies with Schroeder, Schreiber, and Ryan Fumai… this team looks as good as any high school team i’ve seen live, had to say it again

    Joe can we add Dante Fantoni of St. Anthony’s to the players from Nassua/Suffolk list ?? ? #40 plays attack put a couple in against Mt. Lakes im pretty sure

  9. S1wss says:

    Joe

    I think he is going to Lehigh with someone else from St. A’s i think I heard that today, but like you said, lot of lacrosse going on today

  10. Syracuse says:

    Let’s not get crazy now. It’s March 21. It is possible Mountain Lakes is vastly overrated. Though having seen St. Anthony’s more than any other Long Island team over the last five years I can’t say I’d be surprised to hear they are really good.

  11. yoky says:

    how did yorktown do at Ridgewood NJ????

  12. BigBadBear says:

    Joe:

    Great coverage, I definitely want to see St. Anthony’s after reading this. While the big boys were playing, we had our mini-version going on at B’cliff, with Greely, Rye, Montclair. (NJ) Harrison, and Hen Hud playing under the same format. Was very impressed with Montclair, the best team I saw, and I thought Greely looked very good as well. Tougher to get a read on Rye, they had more than a few kids missing, but was very impressed with Keough, in our game he must have had ten take-aways. As for the Bears, we started off shaky, but came back strong toward the end.

  13. BigBadBear says:

    Joe:

    I did not get to see Montclair against Greely, was the last game of the day. They beat Rye 7- 5 I think, but again, I think Rye was short a few, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, and it was the first game, with the temperature like 25 (it warmed up later), so not sure what to conclude. When I saw Montclair against all the other teams, they were playing their second string virtually all the time, I do believe that last year, they lost to Mountain Lakes and Chatham by only a couple of goals. They were big, fast, completely under control and amazingly deep, I also think they were playing their JV kids a lot. On this day, I would say it was Montclair, Greely and Rye in that order, unless some one comes on and tells us that Grelly handled Montclair.

  14. Syracuse says:

    Weekend scores of note (actual games):

    Bethpage 11, Bellmore JFK 4
    Hewlett 9, Great Neck South 3
    Irondequoit 12, McQuaid Jesuit 4
    Lynbrook 10, Freeport 2

    Hewlett has been good in recent years, so keep your eyes on them. Lynbrook has consistently been one of the better medium-size schools on Long Island for a long time. I remember the days when teams like Elmont and Lynbrook were good when programs like Garden City were just beginning to get dominant.

    So there’s a rich tradition with some of these other Long Island schools. They may not have the multiple state titles, but they seem to always be there come Sectionals.

    Does anyone have any possible sleeper Long Island teams in mind? If so, please e-mail me at syracuse@laxlessons.com.

  15. casual observer says:

    joe,
    any thoughts or a score on the don bosco-somers game?

  16. LAX says:

    I thought that St. Anthony’s would be great this season, it’s seeming to be true. They have many great players returning and they’re JV team last year was amazing as well, the only team to crush JJ and they beat Chaminade’s JV for the first time in years I believe.

  17. Joe Lombardi says:

    Casual Observer –

    Not to nitpick (after all I’m a big-picture guy, not one of those annoying “gotcha” nit-picker types), but it wasn’t a “game,” it was a scrimmage. Big difference. That’s why the scores have to really be viewed with a good deal of caution. Anyway, Somers-Don Bosco wound up being pretty evenly played.

  18. casual observer says:

    fair enough. valid point. my bad joey. and thanks for the info. you heading out to the JJ-IP “scrimmage”?

  19. Joe Lombardi says:

    CO –

    I’m definitely going to try to swing by for a bit, but I will be going to the Hofstra at Army game Tuesday at 7, so I won’t be able to stay for long. I plan on attending the entire Darien-John Jay scrimmage on Thursday.

  20. lax watch says:

    rye beat greeley 4-1

  21. daslax says:

    hey joe,
    a) Erik Pfiffner isnt a senior
    b) i also saw two other junior attackmen, Dean Sullivan and Jon Depaolis and sophomore Anthony Lombardo who also did rather well for the Tuskers.

  22. Joe Lombardi says:

    Daslax –

    Yes indeed. Erik Pfiffner is definitely a junior.

    Good point on those other three guys – they all did look good.

    Also – you must be new to the blog. I have been writing about all the guys you mentioned in your previous comment — Dylan Haas, Greg Petre, Matt Deiana and Rob Lombardo — throughout the preseason. Check back on some old posts/comments and you’ll be all caught up.

  23. daslax says:

    yea sorry about that i read some more old post. My fault.

  24. LAX says:

    Didn’t Somers scrimmage White Plains today? How’d that go?

  25. daslax says:

    i can answer that. It was yesterday (the 25th) It was close in the first half but Somers turned it on through the second half. Somers pulled away and won. Not sure of the score but it was somewhere around 9-4 give or take.

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