Nassau's state champs welcome the top-notch competition

Before each season, Cold Spring Harbor coach Dennis Bonn posts his team’s schedule on the whiteboard in his office and asks himself a question.

“Every year I look at it, and I’m like, ‘Why did we do this?' ” Bonn said.

The schedule is daunting. It features some of the top public high school lacrosse teams in the country. There’s a real chance Bonn’s team starts the season winless for several games.

Part of that is by design. Bonn, like many of the coaches in Nassau, schedules top regular season opponents to prepare his team for the postseason. 

The coaches welcome the competition.

But they also couldn’t avoid it if they wanted to. In Nassau boys lacrosse, there is nowhere to hide.

“We’re very fortunate to have a lot of excellent programs and high-level coaches, but even more so, high-level players in this region,” Manhasset coach Keith Cromwell said. “We don’t have to travel too far to play some of the best.”

Nassau boasts three reigning state champions. Garden City, Manhasset and Cold Spring Harbor each won state titles in Classes B, C and D respectively last year.

The slew of Section XIII champions last June marked the first time three teams from the same section won state titles in the same year.

Garden City lifted the first Nassau champion trophy of that bright afternoon at Hofstra University, beating Canandaigua Academy 8-1. Manhasset followed with a 13-5 win over Westhill, then Cold Spring Harbor routed Chenango Forks 17-1.

The Nassau teams outscored their opponents a combined 38-7 in the state title games.

“I was rooting for those guys in June on that Saturday, the same day we were playing,” Garden City coach Steve Finnell said about his Nassau counterparts. “Nassau County lacrosse is some of the best in the country, and I think that’s tremendous.”

Cold Spring Harbor beat Manhasset and Garden City in the regular season last year. All three schools play each other again this spring. 

And all three coaches want to challenge their teams against the best in the county. Cold Spring Harbor’s schedule also features games against Lynbrook, Farmingdale and South Side, all of which roster multiple Division I commits.

“I would stack our schedule against anybody in the country,” Bonn said. “If you’re an athlete or a coach, you’re going to want that competition. We look forward to the challenge against all of those teams.”

Garden City and Manhasset played one another within a goal in their lone meeting last spring, a 12-11 Garden City win in late April.

The “Woodstick Classic” rivalry between the two schools dates back to 1935. The game pushes players into high-pressure situations and gives each coach an idea of where their team matches up each year.

“We had a ton of younger kids step into some high-level roles last year and now we need the same,” Manhasset’s Cromwell said. “We need our seniors to be excellent, but they can’t do it all.”

“The non-league games are great for the kids on the team to challenge them, to see where you are at that point in time of the year,” Garden City’s Finnell added.

Manhasset’s two losses to Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor last spring sparked the school’s first state title run since 2010.

On the field, the players feel the weight of each matchup, too. Senior midfielder Liam Connor, who scored five goals in the state championship game, believes those losses led to Manhasset’s postseason success.

“When you lose games it’s tough, and it’s definitely eye-opening,” Connor said. “I think we responded really well to those losses last year. Hopefully this year we go out there and win those big games, and we can build off a win instead of building off a loss.”

For CJ Reilly and Cold Spring Harbor, the spring schedule hanging on the whiteboard of their coach’s office is another opportunity to prove themselves against Nassau’s top teams.

“That’s really what pushed us all season,” Reilly said. “Everyone’s right there, playing better talent’s obviously going to prepare you better, and we like doing that.”