Northport boys lacrosse repeats as Suffolk A champs
Northport's Tyler Kuprianchik gains control in the fourth quarter during the Suffolk Class A boys lacrosse final against Smithtown East on Wednesday at East Islip. Credit: Bob Sorensen
You can use many adjectives to describe the Northport boys lacrosse team: Talented. Relentless. Battle-tested. Here's a new one: Patient.
After taking a five-goal lead with 7:28 left in the fourth quarter of its Suffolk Class A final Wednesday night, Northport had to wait till Thursday to secure its second straight county championship.
The top-seeded Tigers did just that, defeating No. 3 Smithtown East, 16-13, on Thursday. The game resumed with them holding a 13-8 lead.
And get this? It wasn't the first time Northport had to wait a day to secure a win. Its first-round game against Half Hollow Hills was suspended and finished the following day.
“I think that experience helped us today,” coach Larry Cerasi said. “We learned how to come out and not be flat in a situation like this.”
Play resumed with a bang Thursday, as Jacob Starcke scored his fourth goal of the game with 6:57 remaining to extend Northport’s lead to 14-8.
“Scoring the first goal today was really important,” Starcke said. “It got all of us going. I think that first goal made a big difference.”
Joe Hobot answered for Smithtown East (14-4) 15 seconds later, but Northport regained possession and Timothy Kirchner scored his first of the game with 4:37 left.
Marcus Wertheim scored his third and fourth goals for the Bulls 23 seconds apart, but it was too late for Smithtown East to mount a comeback.
During Wednesday’s portion of the game, Starcke scored as time expired in the first half and again 1:42 into the third quarter to put Northport ahead 6-5. Then the game entered a 30-minute delay due to lightning.
Smithtown East scored two quick goals out of the delay, but Northport answered with a 7-0 run to take a 13-7 lead.
“No one was fooling around during the delay,” said Michael Meyer, who scored two goals during the run and four goals in the game. “We just dominated the faceoffs during that run and scored a couple fastbreak goals.”
Northport (18-1) will face Port Washington in the Long Island championship at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Northport won last year’s LIC but didn’t get a chance to play for its first state title since 2001 because of the pandemic.
“Last year, we played our last game on this field and the celebration was a bit bigger that time because we knew that was it,” Meyer said. “We know there’s more to come for us this year.”
Patient, indeed.
