by Hallie Harvey
The Lindenhurst High School Boys Varsity Lacrosse Team walked away with a win in OT on Tuesday afternoon in their home opener against the Middle Country Mad Dogs. Senior attacker for the Bulldogs, Bryan Diliberto, scored in a sudden-victory matchup to bring the final score to 11-10. The push into overtime followed Middle Country’s return from a five-point deficit, bringing the game to a 10-10 tie with only 1:20 left in regulation.
This win was hard fought, and pressure was on for Diliberto as they entered OT. “I mean I think all of us were a little nervous,” he said. “But we didn’t let that take over our emotions. And I told some of the guys just to stay calm and stay true to your game and we’re going to come out with this.”
After a slow and steady first half, Middle Country began to trail behind, failing to come up with any lead throughout the game. However, the Mad Dogs were able to bring the game to two ties. Centereach high school sophomore attacker, Charlie Cavalieri, scored two back-to-back goals in the second quarter. Cavalieri brought MC to the first tie of the game (4-4) but Lindenhurst quickly responded with two more points going into half-time.
Coming back from the half, Middle Country picked up the tempo by taking three consecutive shots on goal, but managed only one to the back of the net.
The dynamic between the Bulldogs’ offense was unstoppable. Diliberto and Aaron Boccio’s chemistry led to their 10-5 lead at the end of the third quarter.
“I love the kid,” Diliberto said about the sophomore. “It’s great to have him, and I think coming into the season, me, him and [Tyler] Garvey just clicked immediately on the attack line.” Head Coach Tom McCandless mentioned how Boccio missed out on what would’ve been his first varsity season last year due to the pandemic.
Middle Country came in hot in the fourth quarter. Sophomore midfielder Joseph Speziale scored a bounce-shot between Bulldogs goalie, Timothy Vine’s feet, with an assist from Cavalieri while MC was two men up. This power play goal may have single-handedly lit a fire beneath MC as Colin Cleary scored immediately after a timeout, tying the game at 10-10.
“All that was on my mind was winning the game. It was a hard fought battle to come back from a five goal deficit,” Cleary, the junior midfielder said.
The Bulldogs kicked into high gear to redeem themselves from five straight unanswered goals. So when Middle Country lost possession quickly into overtime, Lindenhurst took the opportunity to call a timeout, run a fast break and win the game.
“Win the faceoff, call a timeout, and as soon as we did that, get it behind to our guys and dodge from behind,” Coach McCandless described his thought process while in the huddle. “We were having a lot of success driving from behind and skipping it to the backside.”
As the Lindenhurst Bulldogs go into the rest of their regular season with a win, they plan to “just keep the same energy” as Diliberto says.
