Nassau boys lacrosse top performers

Nassau boys lacrosse top performers for the period April 2-8

With his team down 4-2 at halftime last Friday against Oceanside, Brown, a defenseman, became very offensively-minded and decided to run an idea by his head coach.

“I noticed their faceoff guy was only in for that initial play and then ran off the field,” Brown said. “I knew we needed to figure out a way to get more possessions and I went in thinking I would be able to win the faceoffs to get us the ball.”

He never was involved in a faceoff before, but it didn’t matter. Brown won all seven faceoffs and Long Beach defeated an up-and-coming Oceanside team, 8-4.

That’s only half the reason he owns the top spot this week. Brown defended Oceanside’s top scorer Ryan McCarthy, who is headed to Syracuse, and held him scoreless.

Unlike winning faceoffs, stopping top scorers is nothing new for the West Point-bound senior. He defended one of the best attackman in the county, Port Washington’s John Crawley (Hopkins) last week, holding him to one goal.

Hewlett coach Adam Hopkins calls Richman the triple threat.

“One of the things that separates him is that he can create his own shot from within the offensive set, he can create his own shot by hustling after a ground ball and he can also finish because he’s always at the right place at the right time,” Hopkins said.

Richman’s versatility was on display Saturday when he scored six goals and had a pair of assists during a win against Holy Trinity. Despite a minor ankle injury that plagued him earlier on, Richman was able to score in Hewlett’s 3-2 win over South Side last Thursday.

Byrne scored eight goals and dished out two assists to lift Mepham in its Nassau Conference B-I opener against Great Neck South.

Eighth-grade attackman Laviano scored two goals and added two assists to spur Cold Spring Harbor in a non-league win over Hicksville.

In his first career varsity start Saturday, junior midfielder Miller scored the game-winner with 2:18 left to play for Manhasset in its non-conference win against national power Darien (Conn.).