Aidan Haggerty, Jack Petersen score five apiece as Manhasset boys lacrosse defeats Wantagh

If they were going to stay perfect, something had to change.

Manhasset’s path to remain unbeaten swung through Wantagh High School on Thursday night. Wantagh jumped out to an early two-goal lead, then kept Manhasset within two goals heading into halftime.

But Manhasset scored the first four goals of the second half and beat Wantagh 17-10, remaining the only undefeated team in Nassau C/D.

Aidan Haggerty scored five goals, including three in the first half while Wantagh hung around. Jack Petersen dished out two assists for Manhasset (14-0) and netted five goals in the second half.

“We’ve been in these games before, where we start off slow and kind of just flip a switch,” Petersen said. “Especially on the offensive side, out of the half we just got to work harder and play with a different energy.”

Wantagh (10-5) demanded that urgency late in the second quarter. Manhasset botched a clearing attempt and set up Nick Cupelli for a goal that shrank Manhasset’s lead to 8-6 with 5.3 seconds to play in the half.

“I thought it was a little momentum swing for [Wantagh] going into halftime,” Manhasset coach Keith Cromwell said. “We jumped on our guys in the halftime huddle to make sure that coming out, we got the first couple.”

And Cromwell’s team did. Haggerty and Petersen each scored twice to expand Manhasset’s lead less than five minutes into the third quarter.

Manhasset outscored Wantagh 9-4 in the second half.

“We started bringing the energy up,” Haggerty said. “My teammates were finding me open. Everyone can score on this team.”

Antony Tsakos scored three goals with an assist, and Danny Fisenne added three goals and two assists to lead Wantagh, but Manhasset goalie Matt Im silenced any chance of a comeback.

Im stopped nine shots, including six in the second half.

“We came out a little slow, didn’t play the way we wanted to, weren’t talking,” Im said. “They have a bunch of good players, a bunch of good shooters. Their offense was moving and they were getting cuts inside in the first quarter.”

Matt Carguilo scored three goals, Daniel O’Connor scored, and Liam Connor added three goals and three assists.

Manhasset scored 17 goals for the second time this season, matching the team’s highest offensive output set on Tuesday against Floral Park. Manhasset has scored at least 15 goals in seven games this spring.

“A lot of things to learn from. [We] didn’t play exactly how we wanted to play,” Petersen said. “I feel like we should’ve played a lot better than that, but it gives us film to look at, to critique ourselves and get better.”