Seniors' meeting sparked St. Dominic

James O'Brien and the St. Dominic boys lacrosse seniors wanted to be heard. Coach Matt O'Brien (no relation) was willing to listen.

James O'Brien and the team's seven seniors met with their first-year coach after struggling early in the season, and James said it was the spark to the Bayhawks' first title run.

St. Dominic, led by seven seniors, won the intersectional CHSAA Class A lacrosse title May 31. In the 6-5 clincher at Mount St. Michael, a team it lost to earlier in the season, three seniors -- Dan Ahern (three goals), Justin Mayr (two) and O'Brien accounted for the scoring.

The Bayhawks had a rough start (1-2) to their season, and coaches met with the group of seniors to discuss the situation.

"We asked them 'What do you want to change? What do you want different?' '' Matt O'Brien recalled. "They wanted more up-tempo practices, and to be a little more vocal. Once we beat St. Mary's [a week later], that's when our season started really turning around. The buzz started creating.''

"The seniors all just said we're going to take over the last couple weeks,'' said James O'Brien, a converted baseball player who took up lacrosse his sophomore year. "Coach allowed us to do that. He really took our advice.''

St. Dominic and St. Mary's are the only CHSAA Class A teams on Long Island, so the Bayhawks' sweep of the Gaels gave them an automatic spot in the intersectional game.

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Ahern and sophomore defender Jake Kiernan were all-league selections, and sophomore goalie Pete Izzo (who stepped in when senior goalie Aram Movaseghi went down with a broken thumb early in the season) made 12 saves in the final. But it was the seniors who took over in crunch time.

"They're the ones who took it and ran with it the entire year,'' Matt O'Brien said. "I knew it was going to take a little time, but once the ball got rolling, we absolutely took off.''