Tompkins goal in OT wins it for Manhasset

A boisterous crowd of nearly 1,500 was stomping its feet against the metal bleachers for much of the night. They were making noise for their boys. But it was sudden-death overtime between Chaminade and host Mahasset, and that meant one set of feet would soon experience sudden silence.

A crisply played game full of taut defense and countless hustle plays wound up being decided by a fortunate flick of the stick. "I was in the right place at the right time and I got lucky," Manhasset's Quinn Moroney said.

Moroney deflected a Chaminade defenseman's attempted pass to goalie John Connors and the ball wound up behind the net, where Manhasset's Matt Tompkins pounced. After a moment's hesitation, Tompkins cut to the front and beat Connors high 1:54 into the four-minute overtime for a 7-6 victory.

"I saw the ball was loose and I picked it up behind the net," Tompkins said. "I looked around. I was going to hold it, but I saw an opening and I went to the goal."

The serendipitous Moroney-to-Tompkins connection capped a spirited comeback by Manhasset, which improved to 8-0. Chaminade, which is 6-2, led by two goals for much of the first half. But Harry Kucharczyk made a neat dodge move up top and ripped home the first of his three goals to cut the lead to 4-3 just 19.6 seconds before halftime.

"A huge goal. It gave us a lot of momentum," Moroney said.

It certainly sparked Kucharczyk who scored twice more in the third quarter, including a spectacular solo dash after scooping up a loose ball in his own end that made it 5-all. Drew Belinsky put Manhasset ahead with a running jump shot early in the fourth quarter. But Chaminade, which got three goals from Matt Gillan and two from Will Himler, tied it on Himler's feed to Matt Kavanagh with 9:23 left.

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- April

The game had special meaning for players and fans of both schools. This was the third "Regs Rock" game named in honor of Sgt. James J. Regan Jr., an Army Ranger killed in Iraq in 2007 at age 26. Regan was a star at Manhasset and Duke who turned down law school and Wall Street to became part of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment. His father, James Regan Sr., lives in Manhasset and is an assistant coach for Chaminade, which hadn't played Manhasset for 15 years until the first "Regs Rock" game in 2008.

"This game is in honor of Jimmy. He grew up here. He learned lacrosse here. I live here," Regan Sr. said. "The outpouring of support I got here when Jimmy died was tremendous. This game brought both schools together."

The winning school keeps the "rock" trophy for a year.