Farmingdale Boys Lacrosse Wins LI Title

The dynasty is history.

 stranglehold on the New York high school boys lacrosse scene was wrested away in overtime of Saturday’s Long Island Class A title game.

Nassau champ  survived two furious charges by the Lions in OT and then won the game on senior midfield Mike Perettine’s transition goal with 2:26 left to score a 10-9 upset win before a crowd of 1,500 at Stony Brook University’s LaValle Stadium.

Hofstra-bound senior Sal Tuttle fed Perettine the ball and the senior pushed up the left side of the turf field before firing the winning shot.

“To score the game-winning goal on a stage like this, it wasn’t running through my head,” said Perettine, who started his high school career playing for Smithtown West. “No words can describe it.”

The goal left West Islip thunderstruck as players dropped to their knees where they stood while the Dalers charged onto the field and mobbed Perettine behind the West Islip cage.

The Dalers (15-4) have made 12 trips to the Long Island championship game since 1983. The win marked just the program’s third title and first since 2003. Now Farmingdale moves on to a state semifinal Wednesday 3:30 p.m. at White Plains High School.

West Islip (19-1), ranked second in the nation by ESPN Rise, saw its 40-game winning streak snapped by a team not in the top 50 (nine LI schools are ranked). The Lions had won of four of the last five state championships, including back-to-back state Class A crowns. One of the Lions’ victims? A 13-1 blasting of Farmingdale in last season’s Long Island final.

“It was intimidating because that’s the best offense on Long Island,” said Dalers goalie Mike Palmer, who stared down the West Islip shooters and recorded seven saves. “They straight up whooped us last year. But I’m happy that I was a part of this.”

West Islip looked to close out its fifth overtime game of the season with yet another game-winner. Senior Mike Sagl’s shot missed 50 seconds into overtime and senior Conor Braddish looked to have netted the winner with 2:45 left.

But Palmer deflected it just enough.

“That was hectic,” Palmer said. “The second one shoe-laced me – hit me on the foot. It hit the pipe, went between my legs and I just sat on it basically. That’s all I could do.”

Senior defender Joe Ostrander fished out the ball to end the West Islip threat. Then the Dalers went on the offensive. 

The Dalers proved they were game by showing off a physical and athletic performance that resulted in a 43-28 edge on ground balls and 40-28 shot advantage. 

In fact, the Lions had to rally twice. A late first-half surge by West Islip helped it forge a 5-5 tie at the half after trailing by three goals. The Dalers led 8-7 in the fourth before back-to-back goals by Drew Federico put the Lions ahead 9-8 with 3:33 to go.

Farmingdale countered with a falling shot by Tuttle – his third goal – with 1:11 to go. That’s how it remained into OT.

That’s when West Islip’s remarkable run was finally stopped.

Goals – F: Tuttle 3, Hendrickson 2, Prendergast 2, Starke, Catalano, Perettine;WI: Federico 3, Sagl 3, Aponte, C. Braddish, Brynes, Santo. Saves – F: Palmer 7; WI: Turri 7.