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NEW YORK
SPORTS DIGEST
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LONG BEACH LACROSSE TEAM
STRIVES FOR TITLE
The Long Beach High School Lacrosse Team is preparing to travel to Denver, Colorado during the Easter recess where they will face some tough competition with scrimmages and games. They thus will expect to come home better prepared for the league season and hopefully win the whole thing.
Long Beach is seeded third in the "B" League, behind defending New York State champion Garden City, and Wantagh. The latter has 26 varsity players returning.
"We're playing the toughest schedule in the county," Coach Joe Hoffman said, before the team went onto the field for their first practice. "We play the top four 'A' teams inn non-league games, as well."
Heading the 12 returnees is Leif Blomquist, who was an Honorable Mention All-American player last year.
Last year he scored 27 goals and added 28 assists for a 14-4 team, the best record Long Beach ever put together. Long Beach went to the semi-finals of the Section Eight championships, marking the furthest the team has ever gotten. Garden City won the title.
Blomquist will be attending Rutgers University come this fall. He has that pressure of college off him now.
Besides Blomquist, who was also on the track team during the winter, Long Beach returns junior attackman Brian olson, who started last year. Add to this list juniors Tom O'Toole, and Keith Horn, and senior Chris Calabrese.
The trio are mid-fielders.
Leif's younger brother Garrett is also a member of the team and should do well.
"We'll move Garrett, who started on attack for us as an eighth grader to midfield," Hoffman said.
Heading the strong defensemen are senior Dave Weiss, an Honorable Mention All-County player last spring and senior Ben Hayes, who will pllay long stick defense, and maybe some ofense as he is a very versatile player.
"Hayes will be one of the keys to our team," Hoffman went on.
Junior Adam Alpren, an All-Conference player, will try to be a top goalie once again. He looked very good last year.
"Our strong points are experience, stick work, and speed," added the veteran coach. "Our weak point is depth. We have 20 players on the varsity, which is not a lot. Last year we had 24."
"We don't feel a lot of the junior varsity players are ready to be moved up. That's our problem. If a couple of our players get hurt, we'll be in big trouble."
"The Long Beach residents don't understand how important Lacrosse can be to get their kids in college. For instance, from last year's team eight boys are playing at Division I colleges -- Stony Brook, Dartmouth, Fairfield, Sacred Heart, and Nassau Community College.
"We're excited and working hard. The boys lifted weights and ran during the off season. Some played other sports. We're ready to do well. Boys Lacrosse is very organized in Long Beach."
In addition, the Long Beach Recreation Department conducts a complete Lacrosse program for the kids.
INJURY HITS TEAM
A casualty recently hit the Long Beach Varsity Lacrosse team.
Garrett Blomquist, a feshman on it Lacrosse team, could miss six weeks of action with a broken leg. suffered in the Oceanside game. He underwent surgery and has been recuperating.
The players will certainly miss him. Coach Joe Hoffman must make some changes in the lineup.
A speedy recovery to Garrett Blomquist.
SCHULMAN TO PLAY GOALIE FOR OCEANSIDE
Oceanside High School's Lacrosse program is also on the rise. Coach Bob Moltisanti's team is coming off a 13-3 record team that lost to Hicksville in theh Section Eight semi-finals last year.
"We feel very optimistic," he said. "We have a good team coming back. We lost four key players, but the majority of cour scoring punch is back."
Key returnees include attckman Ryan Lucas, midfielders Mike Kirschner, Dan Lamonica, and Jim Miranda, and defensemen Kyle Pearl and Rob Goosh.
Last spring, Jason Schulman was a reserve goaltender. However, he was hurt for half of the season. He returns to be a number one goalie and has looked extremely good.
Oceanside's strengths have been its offense and defense. Motisanti is indeed pleased with the progress of his team.
He is carrying a roster of 28 players on the varsity. There is also a junior varsity team at Oceanside.
Overall, 72 kids registered for Lacrosse. Moltisanti has one Nassau County championship and two Conference titles to his credit.
LONG BEACH SCHEDULE
Tuesday, April 17 at MacArthur.
Thursday, April 19 at South Side.
Saturday, April 21 at Lawrence at Long Beach Recreation Center, 7:30.
Wednesday, April 25 at Floral Park.
Saturday, April 28, Port Washington.
Monday, April 30 at New Hyde Park.
Wednesday, May 2 at Wantagh.
Saturday, May 5, Carey at Long Beach Recreation Center.
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