Farmingdale comes back to beat Hicksville

Despite trailing by two goals with a minute left in regulation, Farmingdale pulled out a 7-6 victory in overtime on Wednesday over Hicksville — without winning any of the last three faceoffs during the comeback.

“We’ve been getting killed on faceoffs all year,” said Farmingdale boys lacrosse coach Bob Hartranft, who added that John Ragno’s injuries over the past two seasons has impacted the team.

Ragno won 70 percent of his faceoffs in 2011 when the Dalers won a state championship.

Yet Farmingdale’s very strong defense bailed out the team during the Conference I road win, and Chris Lopez not only scored the game-winning goal 46 seconds into overtime, but also extended the game with a score at the final buzzer in regulation.

“Lopez was hurt a lot last year. He missed 10 or 11 games last year. We knew he was a pretty good player and he’s leading us offensively,” Hartranft said.

Led by Dallas Creamer, Navreet Dhaliwal and Matt DiCarlo, Farmingdale forced a turnover, cleared the ball and started a fast break after every faceoff loss. Through double teaming and stick checking, Farmingdale was able to gain possession of the ball and put it through the net late.

“Defense has been our strong point all year," Hartranft said. "It’s a big win for us. It was a typical game against Hicksville; it’s always a dog fight. If we don’t turn the ball over and shoot better, we’re pretty good. That’s been our problem.”

Farmingdale recorded 33 shots, but only committed six turnovers in the game. Tom McPartland added three goals for Farmingdale (2-1), including one that put the Dalers to within one, 6-5.

Ragno is expected back within 7-10 days, according to the head coach.

"It will take him a few games to get into things but we've missed his faceoffs more than anything. It's such a huge part of lacrosse," Hartranft said.