High school central

Before we start, I’ll slap this disclaimer in: Thought and objectivity went into these predictions, so if I picked against your team, it doesn’t mean that I dislike them or have any less respect for them. This is my third season covering lacrosse and I can say with complete honesty that there hasn’t been a team or person I’ve met whom I dislike or would root against in any way. (I’ve had this conversation...

Who knew Beyonce even had a song called “So Amazing”? I didn’t, until about five minutes ago when I went searching for song titles that had any possible correlation to Players of the Week. Then boom! It was a Luther Vandross tribute sung with Stevie Wonder. I think it works here.

(Tangent: Learned something in the process. I recognized Beyonce’s opening lines in the song from “True Love” by...

After Clarke dropped the first game of the best-of-three quarterfinal in Nassau ‘A’ to league foe and No. 14 Valley Stream North the Rams needed to make a statement.

Despite being seeded 11 spots higher, Clarke had its back up against the wall in the quarterfinals again. In 2012 No. 16 Plainedge upset the Rams en route to an unlikely state semifinal run.

“They were only a 14 seed because...

Entering the playoffs as the No. 13 seed and needing to win two elimination games just to make it into the Class A quarterfinals was not anything out of the ordinary for Plainedge.

That’s because the Red Devils entered the playoffs as the No. 16 seed in 2012 and went all the way to the state semifinals.

“We know that once you make the playoffs any team can win,” head coach Colin Fratrik...

Syosset starting pitcher Jake Laine has had a heck of a week.

The Braves senior ace was dominant on Monday in No. 7 Syosset’s 1-0 win over No. 10 Farmingdale in the first round of the playoffs. Laine went the distance and allowed only two hits, striking out seven and walking none. But most importantly he was efficient – his masterpiece was completed in under 60 pitches.

Fast-forward...

Class A Semifinals

No. 5 Syosset vs. No. 1 Farmingdale, 4 p.m. Monday at Adelphi University Syosset advanced with a 13-4 win over Hicksville. Connor Bird scored four goals and Kim Presuto made 16 saves. The Braves had lost in last year's quarterfinals. The Dalers, seven-time defending Nassau champs, rolled to a 20-3 win over MacArthur on Wednesday. Amanda Turturro and Johnna Leone each scored...

In this player profile, we bring you Garden City goalie Taylor Carpentier. In her first year as a starter, the junior has proved more than capable with 116 saves, helping her team to a 15-1 record.

Carpentier has successfully succeeded some stellar lacrosse predecessors at her position. Kelly Weis held the position for four years and was a two-time All-American, and she was followed last year...

And we present to you the last regular-season installment of Players of the Week. Yes, the Nassau Class B tournament is underway and there were some big performances on Monday, but those will be included in next week’s batch.

Here we’ve got the independent women who rang the alarm and made us check up on their performances. (That’s three song title puns in one sentence. I think that’s about...

Inclement weather on Saturday forced the start of the Nassau boys tennis individual championships/state qualifier to Sunday morning, putting the county’s best tennis players through a Mother’s Day marathon at Oceanside.

There were 45 singles players and 55 doubles pairs at the start of the tournament at 9:30 a.m., and by 8 p.m. the plan was to narrow the field to just four singles players...

The final week of conference play is upon us. As teams continue to jockey for playoff seeding and spots we look at the players who made a huge impact on their teams second to last series of the seasons during the week of April 29-May 5.

Alec Chiappone, Locust Valley

Chiappone keyed Locust Valley’s two wins over BC-I rival Wheatley – he scored the winning run in the top of the sixth of...