Sachem North boys lacrosse does itself proud, avenging loss to Sachem East and honoring its history

Senior Thomas Keegan charged onto Fred Fusaro Alumni Field with the American flag in his left hand, leading Sachem North boys lacrosse onto the field for warmups.

The focus was visible. The excitement was palpable. And by the end of the afternoon, Sachem North had avenged its 2024 loss to Sachem East with a dominant 15-2 home win over its crosstown rival in Suffolk I play.

“Last year was a rough one,” junior Stephen Castellano said. “We needed this one, and we got it.”

Even without last year’s 10-8 loss to inspire Sachem North, Wednesday’s game held plenty of significance. Both Sachem teams link up each year to honor Sachem alum Ralph Pepe.

Pepe, who passed away in 2018, helped start Stony Brook University’s lacrosse team and spent time coaching lacrosse at Westhampton, Smithtown West, St. John the Baptist, LIU Southampton and Sachem. He was inducted into Sachem Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

“We wanted to share the ball and play for each other,” coach Anthony Muratore said. “That’s for everyone in the locker room, and for Ralph. We wanted to make Ralph proud today.”

Each year a player from Sachem North and East are picked as MVPs. Senior Dillon Halloran earned the honor for Sachem North, having won 12 of his 16 faceoffs, and senior Max Bennet lifted the plaque for Sachem East.

“This means everything to me,” Halloran said. “But I’m more proud of my team right now than I am of myself.”

“They’re like family,” Castellano added.

Halloran faced three different opponents at the faceoff X across the game, which forced him to make slight adjustments that paid off.

“When I’m going against poles, I have to make sure to be a little more cautious with the ball,” Halloran said.

Castellano and sophomore Lucas Bouchard led Sachem North with five points apiece. Bouchard’s shot seemed to grow in power with each release while Castellano kicked off Sachem North’s win by scoring three of its first five goals.

Senior goalie Chris Freriks did his part to help Sachem East (1-7) , finishing with 19 saves.

Sophomore John Calabria and senior Brayden Tappin added four points each for Sachem North, a team that won just five games a year ago and has now matched that total with a month left in the regular season as it moves to 5-2.

Muratore referred to how young the team was last year and still is this year, holding just five seniors that have paved the way for Sachem North to take the next step.

“We say we were young last year; we are young again this year and even next year we are going to be young,” Muratore said. “Those seniors do a great job leading this team, and we couldn’t ask for a better senior group.”