Photo by Ray Nelson/MaxPreps.com

Brandon Gamblin of Sachem North controls during yesterday’s 12-9 loss to West Islip.

Maybe the Suffolk County coaches were right, after all.

They voted West Islip as the top team in the county in the preseason even though the Lions were hit hard by the graduation of Long Island’s all-time leading scorer, Nicky Galasso, not to mention such other standouts as Andrew Hodgson.

The rankings by several media outlets of late did not agree with the coaches as Sachem North and Ward Melville, and in some cases, Smithtown West, were all ranked ahead of WI.

Well, score one for the standard bearer.

The Lions picked up an impressive 12-9 win over a Sachem North squad that’s stacked talent wise.

Is it possible to call a win by a team that has won four state titles the last five years an upset?

For more on the game, be sure to check out a story and video by Chris Vaccaro and AJ Voelpel of Patch.com by clicking here.

Meanwhile, the much-awaited Ward Melville-Smithtown West showdown was suspended midway through the fourth quarter because of lightning. Ward Melville is holding a 9-8 lead. Play resumes today at 4:30 p.m. at Smithtown West.

In the Hudson Valley yesterday, a resilient Somers squad, which started the season with back-to-back one-goal losses, picked up its second straight win, beating Rye 7-5.

Now, to today’s schedule.

In Rockland County, rivalries are renewed as Suffern hosts Nanuet, Tappan Zee visits Clarkstown South and Clarkstown North visits Pearl River.

Over in Westchester, Class C Pelham, which has a two-goal win over White Plains prominent on its resume, hopes to pick up another win against a Class A team when it visits Scarsdale.

Bronxville hopes to improve to 4-0. The Broncos host White Plains.

In the prep school ranks, Brunswick hosts Taft, Hotchkiss visits Loomis Chaffee and Salisbury visits Trinity Pawling.

Here’s a look at today’s schedule:

Westhampton at Sayville, 4 p.m.
Islip at Hauppauge, 4 p.m.
Bellport at Bayport-Blue Point, 4 p.m.
Stamford at Westhill at Westhill Front Field, 4 p.m.
Nanuet at Suffern, 4:15 p.m.
Clarkstown North at Pearl River, 4:15 p.m.
South Side at Carey, 4:15 p.m.
Great Neck South at Mepham, 4:15 p.m.
Salisbury at Trinity Pawling, 4:30 p.m.
Ward Melville at Smithtown West, 4:30 p.m. (Game, suspended from Tuesday, will be resumed with 6:03 remaining in regulation and Ward Melville leading 9-8)
Hotchkiss at Loomis Chaffee, 4:30 p.m.
Masters at Harvey, 4:30 p.m.
Kent at Millbrook, 4:30 p.m.
Taft at Brunswick, 4:30 p.m.
Long Beach at Plainview-JFK, 4:30 p.m.
Edgemont at Dobbs Ferry, 4:30 p.m.
New Paltz at Millbrook, 4:30 p.m.
Red Hook at Highland at Highland Middle School, 4:30 p.m.
Burke Catholic at Wallkill, 4:30 p.m.
Ardsley at New Rochelle, 4:30 p.m.
Saunders at Hastings, 4:30 p.m.
North Salem at Peekskill at Torpy Field, 4:30 p.m.
East Hampton at Kings Park, 4:30 p.m.
Harborfields at Southampton, 4:30 p.m.
Center Moriches at Huntington, 4:30 p.m.
Wantagh at Roslyn, 4:30 p.m.
New Hyde Park at Kennedy-Bellmore, 4:30 p.m.
Mount Sinai at Comsewogue, 4:30 p.m.
Babylon at Shoreham-Wading River, 4:30 p.m.
Hewlett at Glen Cove, 4:30 p.m.
Lawrence at Sewanhaka, 4:30 p.m.
Great Neck North at Wheatley, 4:30 p.m.
Cold Spring Harbor at Floral Park, 4:30 p.m.
Elmont at Jericho, 4:30 p.m.
Middletown at Warwick, 4:30 p.m.
Minisink Valley at Pine Bush, 4:30 p.m.
Eastchester at Mamaroneck, 4:30 p.m.
White Plains at Bronxville, 4:30 p.m.
Levittown Division at Garden Ciy, 4:45 p.m.
Bethpage at Plainedge, 5 p.m.
Pelham at Scarsdale, 5 p.m.
Tappan Zee at Clarkstown South, 5:15 p.m.
Lynbrook at Manhasset, 6 p.m.
Monroe Woodbury at Valley Central, 6:30 p.m.
Washingtonville at Kingston, 6:30 p.m.
Deer Park at Eastport/South Manor, 7 p.m.
Elwood/John Glenn at Rocky Point, 7 p.m.

There are also lots of big games on Saturday, including the battle of the nation’s top two teams, Haverford (Pa.) and Darien and Manhasset and John Jay.

We have been rotating our latest poll question asking for your vote on who you think will win each game.

To vote in the poll, on the right panel of this page, just scroll past the “New Comments” and “Popular” tabs and click on “Poll,” and then cast your vote from the choices available, or write in your choice if it’s not listed.

You can reach us by email at info@laxlessons.com.

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Be sure, as always, to weigh in with info/thoughts/scores on games you attend. And don’t forget to put those mobile phones to good use in providing in-game updates, gang. If it’s easier, you may also send your updates to info@laxlessons.com.

This week’s college schedule
For a rundown of this week’s D-I games, and games you can catch on TV, click here.

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Posted In: Fairfield lacrosse, fciac, Gameday, Section 1, Section 11, Section 8, Section 9

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20 Responses to “Gameday Wednesday, 4/13: Rockland teams renew rivalries; Smithtown West, Ward Melville complete suspended game”

  1. Rebel Yell says:

    7 oclock tonite on MSG Varsity Channel 14 … LP-SUFFERN game from Sat nite … Should be sickkkkk

  2. laxidasicle says:

    you want sick… ridgefield visits summit this saturday @ noon summit has 50 game win streak working(play west essex today) and we know what roy jr likes to do!

  3. LI Lax says:

    FINAL: WM 10 SW 9 OT

    • Joe Lombardi says:

      Melville senior middies Sean Cleary, Jack Harvasinski and Danny Nemirov all had big games as did goalie C.J. Ryan, especially in the second half. Cleary finished with four goals. Middies — Jack Bruckner (sophomore), Frank Lucatuorto (junior) and Jimmy Coughlan (junior) — also played well for WM. Smithtown West did a nice job containing WM attack.

  4. bearcats says:

    hotchkiss over loomis 7-6 in OT

  5. Bronco Bob says:

    Bronxville 10, White Plains 7

    • slacrosse says:

      Gotta say very surprised Bville did not win by a much bigger margin vs a team I thought was down this season? Maybe WP is not that down?

      • BVille overrated says:

        Bville is a good team but not a great team. they beat who they need to but against bigger teams they havent done it. To me put valley is still team to beat in class C. Big week for Bville to make a statement against PV. But Byram has a great D and great goalie. Also in the running for class C. Class C is up for grabs this year!

      • lax says:

        Now that’s respect. When winning is not enough and unless you win in a blowout, your team is somehow suspect and the other team has won a moral victory, I would have to take that as a compliment, that and the W of course.

  6. Lax Novice says:

    Call me a rules stickler, but the photo by Ray Nelson of MaxPreps is showing Gamblin of Sachem North being cross-checked in the neck by a West Islip short stick defender. Seems to me that anybody can play good defense if you can get your stick up in the head area. Any idea if this infraction was called during the game?

    Also notable is that Gamblin is shown chewing one end of his mouthguard, rather than being fully in place as it should be. Isn’t that also a technical violation in high school?

    • Indian J says:

      Would not be called if “he turned” into it. Could very be as flagrant as that photo illustrates, but then again maybe it was just a quick moment that looks worse than it actually was. As for the mouth piece … yup.

  7. ??? says:

    Tapan Zee beats Clarkstown South 4 to 3. Kris Alleyne played very well.

  8. lax says:

    mamk took out eastchester

  9. Laxidazical says:

    Hey, you took my screen name! But spelled it slightly differently. Not cool.

    Pelham beat Scarsdale in OT 7-6
    Buckley 3 goals
    Lambdin 2 goals, including game winner
    Shea 1 goal
    Szendiuch 1 goal
    Martin 2 assist

Leave a Reply to LI Lax