Nassau CC lacrosse wins second straight national title

The Nassau CC men’s lacrosse team defeated Howard CC, 17-9, in the NJCAA championship game to claim its second straight national title Sunday at Mitchel Field.

Despite falling to Howard, 21-9, on April 2, the Lions jumped out to a 7-2 halftime lead on Sunday, as Ryan Murphy (North Shore) and Uniondale native and Kellenberg graduate Sean Rice each scored two goals in the first half. Rice added two more goals in the third quarter and finished the game with six.

“That loss to Howard was one of the best things that happened to us,” coach John Savage said. “We felt like we didn’t show up as a staff or a team that day and we were disappointed. It really got our team refocused.”

Nassau’s ball control was key, as the Lions outshot Howard, 43-31, through the first three quarters. Andrew Tittmann of Northport saved 16 of 25 shots on goal to anchor the Lions’ defense.

No. 5 Nassau, which has 23 NJCAA titles, held on to defeat Onondaga, 8-7, in the quarterfinals on May 7 and beat No. 1 Harford, 12-9, in the semifinals on Saturday. The Lions (9-4) finish the season with three of their losses coming against the teams they defeated in the tournament.

“We knew we could play with anyone,” Savage said. “We saved our best lacrosse for the last three games of the year.”

St. Joseph’s wins Skyline Conference

After losing its first game of the double-elimination Skyline Conference tournament, the St. Joseph’s baseball team won four straight to claim its fifth conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

St. Joseph’s fell, 12-10, to Merchant Marine on Friday before defeating Mt. Saint Vincent, 9-1, and Farmingdale, 8-4, to reach the final round. Needing two wins against the Merchant Marine Academy, the Golden Eagles avenged their first-round loss with 18-9 and 10-3 victories on Sunday.

John Lynch, an Oceanside native and Holy Trinity graduate, went 5-for-11 with eight RBIs and three runs scored on Sunday and Rocky Point’s Brian Forbes went 4-for-10 with six RBIs and six runs scored.

Joe Sanguedolce of Eastport-South Manor went 12-for-20 with six runs scored and one RBI throughout the weekend and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

St. Joseph’s will face host Shenandoah in a double-elimination regional tournament with Catholic and Stevens starting Thursday in Winchester, Virginia.

Molloy wins second straight conference title

Molloy baseball followed a similar path, losing its first game in the East Coast Conference tournament before winning four straight to claim its second consecutive ECC title.

Molloy defeated Queens College, 6-5, and 12-10 on Saturday on the backs of two pitchers from Commack. Brian Morrisey pitched seven innings of relief, allowing just one run and four hits with no walks to keep the Lions in the first game.

After pitching just 5 2/3 innings with one strikeout all season, Peter Theodorellis struck out seven in four innings of relief to clinch the title and a bid to the NCAA Division II East Regional, where Molloy will face Le Moyne at Mitchel Field on Thursday.

Hofstra’s late-game heroics

Bayport-Blue Point’s Jake Liberatore hit his second walk-off, three-run home run in 11 days to give Hofstra a 6-5 baseball win over James Madison on Saturday. On May 3, Liberatore’s walk-off homer gave Hofstra a 6-4 win over Iona, his former school.

Hofstra’s sixth walk-off win this season came in the middle of a three-game sweep of JMU, marking the Pride’s first sweep in CAA play since defeating UNCW in three straight in April 2019.

Hofstra finished its regular season on a five-game win streak and has a bye week before the start of the CAA tournament on May 25 at Elon.