Mangan's six goals lead Wantagh to Class B final

Wantagh's Brandon Mangan waited until he scored his fifth of six goals Wednesday to show just how excited he really was. He turned to the crowd at Hofstra, waving his arms up and down to urge the Warriors' fans to make some noise. But they already were.

Top-seeded Wantagh beat No. 5 Lynbrook, 11-8, on a scorching hot day on the turf at Shuart Stadium behind an offensive show by Mangan, Nassau County's boys lacrosse leader in points (103), goals (63) and assists (40).

The Yale-bound senior attackman had four second-half goals, and he scored three in 3:19 early in the fourth quarter during a 4-0 Wantagh run that broke the game open.

Wantagh (16-2) advances to the county Class B championship, where it will play the winner of No. 2 Garden City-No. 3 Division. They play in the other Class B semifinal at 3:30 p.m. today at Hofstra. Lynbrook finished the season 13-5.

"Whoever it is, we're going to do what we do," Mangan said of the approach for the final, which is 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hofstra. "Offense, offense and more offense."

Averaging 14 goals per game, Wantagh wouldn't have it any other way. Ryan Walsh added three goals and one assist, and Wantagh went from leading 7-6 at the start of the fourth quarter to 11-6 with 7:38 left. Mangan started the burst with an 8-yard shot from the left wing.

And he scored from a variety of other angles. To give Wantagh a 7-5 lead in the third quarter, Mangan took the ball to the left of the crease, ran parallel along the goal line extended and stuffed a high, quick shot short-side past goaltender Andrew Siconolfi. Fans hesitated to cheer until the referee signaled a goal because it didn't appear possible to score from that angle.

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- May

But they were on their feet immediately after Mangan made it 9-6 3:45 into the fourth. He caught a pass near midfield and sprinted directly to the goal.

"They didn't slide to me. I got an open shot and took it," he said. "No one came to me."

Which is something teams don't want to forget.

"He scores when we need him to score," Wantagh coach Gary Reh said. "That's what the kid does. He leads Nassau in points, goals and assists. You need a big goal? He's been doing it for three or four years."

Jake Gambitsky made eight saves for Wantagh. Tom DeNapoli had a goal and two assists for Lynbrook. Temperatures on the field were recorded at 90 degrees at the start of the game.

"The heat was brutal," Mangan said. "We did good job with water and ice rags and everything."

Manhasset cruises. The undefeated Indians, ranked second in the nation by Inside Lacrosse, rolled to their 16th win, defeating No. 5 Seaford, 19-3, in a Nassau Class C semifinal last night at Hofstra.

Ten players scored for top-seeded Manhasset, which led 5-0 after a quarter, 12-2 at halftime and 16-3 after three. Chris Cook had three goals and three assists in the first half, Drew Belinsky had three goals and two assists and Kevin Katzmann had a hat trick. Seaford finishes 8-9.

Manhasset reached the Class C final at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Hofstra. It faces the winner of No. 2 Cold Spring Harbor-No. 3 Friends Academy, which play in the other Class C semifinal at 6 p.m. today at Hofstra.

Farmingdale wins. Sal Tuttle had two goals and three assists and Brian Prendergast had two goals for top-seeded Farmingdale, which scored four straight goals in the last eight minutes in a 9-4 win over No. 4 Syosset (9-6) in a Nassau Class A semifinal. The Dalers (15-2) will seek their 12th county title Wednesday against today's Massapequa-Hicksville winner.