Tornadoes Breeze Past West Babylon In Opener

Aiden Costello looks for the open pass Tuesday in Harborfields 14-3 win over West Babylon. (Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach)

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

The Harborfields High School boys lacrosse team got off to a fast start Tuesday afternoon in its first league game and never looked back.

Neither the cold weather nor the West Babylon defense could slow Harborfields’ offense as the Tornadoes defeated the Eagles, 14-3.

Senior P.J. Clementi started off the scoring in the first quarter. Two more Harborfields goals were scored by M.J Buckholtz and Danny Alanwick, each of whom had one goal in the contest, to put the Tornadoes up, 3-0, halfway into the opening quarter.

The tone for Harborfields was set early with crisp passes into the crease that allowed cutters from the midfield and attack to capitalize on close range shots.

Although the Tornadoes allowed a sloppy short-handed goal to the Eagles, Harborfields responded with two more first quarter goals including a shifty inside dodge along goal line extended by attackman Stephen Markowski to beat his defender and score one of his two goals in the game.

After just the first quarter it was beginning to look like a difficult day for West Babylon with Harborfields leading, 5-1.

It was the Tornadoes’ defense time to shine in the second quarter. The Tornadoes played tight off-ball defense in an effort to isolate the Eagle shooters and force long-range shots. Senior long stick midfielder Lukas Kollmer played an important role turning groundballs into possessions for the Tornadoes.

By the end of the second quarter the Tornadoes had added two more goals to their tally and led the contest, 7-2.

The second half was more of the same for Harborfields. A quick first goal of the half was started from a great outlet pass by senior goalie Zack Yorio. Yorio’s prolific passing made clearing the ball much easier for the Tornadoes. The shot-stopper was also seeing the ball well and had nine saves.

The Eagles had no answer for the patient passing and inside cuts by the Harborfields offense. Despite 14 saves from the West Babylon goaltender, Clementi scored two more goals and senior midfielder Jimmy BiFulco led the Tornadoes with four goals.

By the end of the third quarter Harborfields led, 11-2.

The Harborfields defense never gave an inch, and the offense added three more goals in the fourth quarter to see out the game.

Two goals from Andrew Derasmo, one from Marc Leone and assists from Aiden Costello, Ian McGullam and Thomas Sangiovanni rounded out the Harborfields stat sheet.

The Tornadoes will look to continue their good start to the season next Wednesday, 10 a.m. when they’re set to travel to Half Hollow Hills High School West to take on the Colts.