Garden City boys lacrosse's Andrew Ottomanelli nets five goals in a dominant win over Massapequa
Andrew Ottomanelli of Garden City (left) scores the first goal of the game during a Nassau boys lacrosse game against Massapequa on Wednesday, April 10, 2024 in Massapequa. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The offense was precise and prolific. The defense was smothering and stingy. Man-up scoring opportunities produced goals and a man-down disadvantage was quickly snuffed. And the face-off game was simply devastating.
It would be hard to imagine a more complete game than the one the Garden City boys lacrosse team turned in on Wednesday as it shrugged off a tough Massapequa team for a 12-3 Nassau Power League road win.
“We have experienced guys who have played in big games and play with poise,” said Steve Finnell, coach of the two-time defending state Class B champion Trojans. “Against a team as good as Massapequa, you need that.”
Garden City (5-2, 2-0) scored the final four goals of the first half to take a 6-2 lead and raced away with six unanswered goals to close the game out. Holy Cross commit Andrew Ottomanelli unleashed lefty shots from high and low as he racked up five goals. Junior Dan Medjid had three goals and U.S. Naval Academy commit and faceoff specialist Luke Cascadden had a pair of goals for the Trojans.
Princeton-bound Matt Kephart, Cornell-bound Blake Cascadden, Bucknell commit Owen Wuchte and Holy Cross commit Aidan Considine led an ensemble defensive effort that afforded Massapequa (3-4, 1-1) only a handful of quality shots.
Nolan Wieczorek had first-quarter score that tied it, 1-1, and Jack Garguilo had a second-quarter goal to knot things, 2-2, for Massapequa.
Garden City had 38 goals in its first three games before a pair of stumbles, but now has 21 in a pair of wins and Ottomanelli said, “it feel like we’re getting our offensive groove back and when that happens we’re hard to stop.”
The Trojans are allowing just 4.9 goals per game and, as Kephart explained, “With us, it’s never one guy on the ball – it’s always an emphasis on team defense where we help each other.”
Luke Cascadden won faceoffs and took the ball right in for goals twice – his first two goals of the season. Each came in one of the Trojan bursts and were especially impactful.
The first came moments after Medjid scored from 12 yards away on the right wing with 8:29 left in the first half to snap a 2-2 tie. Five seconds later, Luke Cascadden struck for the first time and made it 4-2. “A goal like that takes their hope a little bit,” he said.
The second came after Massapequa’s Joe Diesso skipped in a 20-yard shot for the first goal of the second half. Luke Cascadden got it back 14 seconds later.
“That stripped a little more hope away,” Luke Cascadden said. “It basically said ‘you’re not getting two goals in a row off of us.”
Ottomanelli, seeking to improve on an impressive 42-goal 2023 season, used a variety of shooting angles to score. His first came from the side – almost underhand – and bounced into the goal. His third was on a dash right at the goal in the third quarter and came from almost directly overhead.
“I’m trying to be a low-to-high shooter,” he said. “It keeps them guessing.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
