Timothy McLam, Jack Deliberti lead Northport past Bay Shore
Timothy McLam of Northport rushes to the net past the Bay Shore defense during a Suffolk boys lacrosse game on Tuesday at Northport. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Andrew Miller has unfinished business to attend to with his Northport boys lacrosse squad. The Tigers were the runner-up to the Class A state championship in 2022.
Each game in the 2023 season is one step closer to capturing that illustrious goal.
“It was a great learning experience because you can't win them all,” Miller said. “We’re definitely coming into the season with a new group, a hungry group. And we’re very optimistic for the future.”
The Tigers began their Suffolk I season with a 13-11 win over Bay Shore at Northport High School on Tuesday.
Junior attack Timothy McLam led Northport with four goals and added an assist. Sophomore attacker Jack Deliberti added three goals, and senior midfielder Macklin O’Brien had two goals and three assists.
“We’re just a really high energy, high intensity type of team,” head coach Larry Cerasi said. “We practice like that, so we hope that we show up like that on game days.”
O’Brien scored first for the Tigers (1-0) just 93 seconds into the game. A few minutes later, senior goalkeeper Michael Tittmann saved a Bay Shore (0-1) shot.
Two late first-quarter goals bookending a Bay Shore goal put the Tigers up 4-1. The scoring flooded into the second quarter as Northport answered one Bay Shore goal with three more goals of its own before halftime. Any time Bay Shore scored, Northport fired back.
“We got possessions in our defense …” McLam said. “When you get possessions, you get more opportunities. And obviously with that, our offense is really strong. We just use that to put more in the net.”
Northport extended its lead to 9-3 in the third which included Deliberti whipping a shot past the keeper just nine seconds after Bay Shore scored.
The lead peaked at six goals as Bay Shore trimmed its deficit to just three goals in the third and two in the fourth quarter. But the Northport defense, led by seniors Miller and Nicholas Tzimas held the fort.
“We are pretty experienced on the back end — we do have a lot of seniors,” Cerasi said. “[Jonathan] Alfiero, Miller, Tzimas and Nick Valenti, the four of them bring a lot of experience. And they also bring a lot of communication. Some of the younger guys are able to learn from them."
