The Mineola boys third/fourth grade PAL lacrosse team remains undefeated at 5-0 so far in the Nassau County PAL Youth Lacrosse League, according to coach Eddie Grimm
The Mineola boys third/fourth grade PAL lacrosse team consists of boys from a variety of surrounding school districts. We have nine boys attending Mineola, nine boys attending St. Aidan’s, five boys attending Carle Place, three attending Wheatley, and two attending Westbury.
2011 Spring Season Recap So far…
April 3: Mineola defeats New Hyde Park 5-1
All of the boys gave their best on opening day. Goals were scored by midfielders Philip Arnold (2,) Alex Mayfield (2), Matt Grimm (1), along with Jack Duff, one assist.
Mineola scooped up 64 ground balls and dominated the ground game, three or more ground balls were led by Ben Shapiro, Jack Duff, Sante Nicolia, Liam Gormley, Antonio Mistretta, Adam Campbell, Alex Marchiselli, and Dylan Graham. Our fearless Goalie Sean Hembach made a few nice saves. The boys moved the ball and did a very nice job in their first spring game.
April 10. Mineola defeats South Huntington 5-0
Marco Ali (1) and Ryan Dailey (1) scored their first goals of the spring season, Matt Grimm (1) tossed in a goal, Alex Mayfield- scored two goals, Philip Arnold had two assists one of which was during the three- pass rule.
Amir Davis had one assist and shut down the other teams offense with hard checking along with top defense from fellow teammates Zach Koerber, Aidan Coffey, Aidan Roldan, Michael Cardinal, and Joe Carr.
Matt Ferrone took the ball all of the way down the field and had a nice bounce shot on goal.
Ben Shapiro, Ryan Espinoza, Jack Duff, and Dylan Graham led the midfields with ground balls. Sal Anteri had consistent catches and passes along with his fellow attack men Vincent Aidala, Dylan Lyons, Robert Li, Antonio Mistretta, Alex Marchiselli, and Liam Gormley all improving their game. Aidan Wong, Derek Gilbert and Jeremy Samuel also had a tough midfield line battling the other teams midfielders, Jeremy Samuel took a hard shot to the leg but was back in the game soon after. Sante Nicolia, out on injured reserve was there for team support. Our fearless goalie Sean Hembach had 11 saves and many nice clears leading his team to a 5-0 shutout.
April 17. Mineola defeats Oceanside 9-3
Let’s go back to the beginning of this season this past winter in the gym. Many players were new to the game of lacrosse and have never held a stick. It was all new to many of them. Many players later played in the indoor winter league in which we won only one game and considered this another step in the “learning process.”
Our players started off this year “learning” as did all of the other teams. Our boys at this time have played all away games and have won all three games. Whether we win or lose the boys ALL play hard.. they play for Mineola that’s what Mineola is all about!
They play in rotating positions every game, they are learning, and if you listen to them they are having fun together with their new friends. We won 9-3 yesterday in an exciting game over Oceanside. First season goals by Ryan Espinoza (1), Jack Duff (1), Ben Shapiro (1) also with one assist, two first goals for Amir Davis (2) (who usually plays tough defense) followed by star midfielder Philip Arnold (two goals and one assist, along with goals from attack men Marco Ali (1) and Ryan Dailey (1).
May 1. Mineola defeats East Meadow 6-1
Mineola had 55-plus groundballs. Our defense led by Matt Ferrone and Joe Carr ran the ball over the midfield line with a “middie back” many times, tough to do at this age. We still try to improve our passing in the box.
Our deep defense had reinforcements of Aidan Coffey, Zack Koerber, Alex Marchiselli along with Adam Campbell and Amir Davis who keep the front of the goal locked down and held East Meadow to 1 goal.
Our attack men are starting to move the ball around the field with better passing by Robert Li, Vincent Aidala, Liam Gormley, Aidan Wong, and Antonio Mistretta who also had a nice shot. Our aggressive midfield ground ball leaders with 5 or more ground balls were Derek Gilbert, Ben Shapiro, Sante Nicolia, Ryan Espinoza, Alex Mayfield, and Jack Duff.
Our goalie Sean Hembach continued his unbelievable season by making nine saves and clearing the ball well. Mineola scoring was led by Jeremy Samuel (1) with his first goal, Ryan Dailey (1), Ben Shapiro (1), Jack Duff (1), Alex Mayfield (1), and Marco Ali (1).
April 7. Mineola defeats Deer Park 5-2
Our first late Saturday game of the season was victorious! This was a battle on the field until the very end. Defense by Joe Carr, Matt Ferrone, and Aidan Coffey. Matt Grimm-1 won the face-off and took the rock down the midfield for the first goal of the game to set the tone, Ben Shapiro with face dodge perfection put twoi unassisted goals in, Philip Arnold scored his fifth goal of the season, Derek Gilbert has picked his game up and scored a goal as well. Mineola scooped up 61 total ground balls with five or more from Matt Grimm, Philip Arnold, Jack Duff, Ben Shapiro, and Joe Carr.
Our goalie Sean Hembach made six nice saves and three perfect clears while leading Mineola third/fourth grade PAL to be undefeated so far with three games to go. Stay tuned.
