Team Effort Leads Farmingdale Past Hills in Long Island 'A' Final

<p>Toughness and grit. Those are the two words that I would use to describe Farmingdale and they showed plenty of that in their second straight Long Island championship win. The Dalers slowed down a prolific Half Hollow Hills offense and held them to 6 goals. The Dalers' team defense and Jimmy Caputo's 11 saves would be the difference maker in this 11-6 win over Hills. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Defense Came To Play</h2>   <p>Jaxson Parisi, Matt Ippolitti, [player_tooltip player_id='32146' first='Michael' last='Galgano'] and the rest of the defensive corps were excellent. Active sticks, physicality, and team defense were all things that this defense did great. In this game, Hills might've missed the net a lot but you have to get credit to this defense for staying with them and getting into their hands. Hills stars [player_tooltip player_id='14547' first='Anthony' last='Raio'] and [player_tooltip player_id='127551' first='Zach' last='Marco'] had a combined 142 goals heading into this contest, but only combined for one goal and it came from Raio at the end of the game when this contest was already decided. Playing as one all game, the defense slid well, caused turnovers, moved the ball upfield efficiently to create offensive opportunities, and won tough ground ball battles. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Farmingdale's Top Performers </h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Half Hollow Hills has some of the best shooters on Long Island, but that didn't phase Jimmy Caputo in the slightest. He came away with nine impressive saves to force Hills into its second-lowest goal total of the season. Caputo was named game MVP of this one and it was deserved, as seven of his nine saves came in the second half. Making a variety of saves, he was calm, cool, and collected throughout this contest. High heat wouldn't go past him, as he showed great hand speed and responded well all game. He then showed off his athleticism, making some incredible saves where he was able to get down low and deny some lasers. Caputo is a leader out there and has been playing the best lacrosse of his career during this magical postseason run for the Dalers, who graduated a special senior class a year ago. </p>      <p class="text-gray-700">One of the most underappreciated athletes on Long Island, Posillico is headed to play football at Springfield but he's also one of the most valuable two-way midfielders on the island. In this game against Half Hollow Hills, he was excellent wherever he was on the field, especially on defense and between the lines. His help defense was truly excellent. He slid hard and efficiently all game long. He disrupted dodgers and also made great checks on players trying to catch the ball in the middle of the field. He then had one of the best effort plays I've seen all season. After getting cleanly stripped, he sprinted down field and successfully pulled off a diving check from behind to stop the fast break opportunity. On offense he finished with 3 assists on the day. He had two assists to his teammate [player_tooltip player_id='30787' first='Josh' last='Kama'] for the first two tallies of the game. His third assist came at the end of the first half. Posillico elevated up top and Hills tried to switch a pole up to him, but Posilicio recognized the confusion. He attacked right away and banged it to the wing where Cuinn Sunde scored to make it 5-2 late in the first half. He was asked to do a lot and Posillico answered in a big way, as he was a major reason for the Dalers overall success in shutting down Hills.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700"> Most of the time when we feature FOGO's, they dominate and take over a game. This wasn't the case for Damo, but the way he stepped up definitely impacted this game. The sophomore was the underdog in a faceoff matchup against Air Force commit Nico Ghicas. Damo went 1-for-8 in the first half but the Dalers still had a 5-2 lead. The third quarter was going to be very important for a Hills comeback but Damo came up clutch for the Dalers. He ended up winning six faceoffs in a row helping his team get possession. When it was 6-4 and Hills had momentum, he won it forward to himself and dished out an assist to [player_tooltip player_id='15362' first='Brendan' last='O'Keefe'] for a much-needed quick response. His performance in the third quarter kept the Farmingdale offense in control of the tempo in this game. Farmingdale would outscore Hills 4-2 in that quarter and have a commanding 9-4 lead going into the fourth quarter, and Damo's timely wins lifted the Dalers to another title. </p>     <p class="text-gray-700">A matchup nightmare at 6'6 and 225 pounds, the big lefty attackman wanted to make sure his high school career didn't end, posting two incredible goals to boost this Farmingdale offense. His first goal came in a matchup with Syracuse commit [player_tooltip player_id='14556' first='Joseph' last='Filardi']. Lennon used his size to back down his defender into a good spot on that low lefty wing. Lennon was able to lower his shoulder to then step away and shoot around his defender for his first goal, but his second tally was something we'll be seeing a replay of for a while. Lennon came off a pick inside and was able to unleash a behind-the-back laser that went top-shelf at the end of the third quarter to give Farmingdale a momentum boost and a commanding 9-4 lead. </p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Lennon's partner-in-crime also showed up when it mattered most, posting two goals and two assists. Hills tried to deny O'Keefe the ball in this one but when he had possession he made plays. The Albany-bound senior scored his first goal on a fast break when Damo won it forward and found O'Keefe, who had some space away from his defender. O'Keefe wasted no time by unleashing a low-to-high rocket right after he caught the pass. That laser of a shot put Farmingdale up 7-4 and ended the two-goal spurt Hills went on. He then assisted Lennon for his highlight reel BTB goal. O'Keefe's second goal came off a two-man game from behind. Besides the flukey shot, this was textbook. He sprinted off a pick, bounced at GLE, hesitated, got upfield, and turned the corner for a deflected shot that found the back of the cage. </p>      <p class="text-gray-700">Farmingdale got off to a fast start and the super sophomore was the reason why, posting the first two goals of the game to give the Dalers an early lead. His first goal was pretty, as he got under a dodging Posillico to make himself a threat up top. After creating space from his defender that way, he caught the ball and displayed a beautiful hitch. He then got to the middle of the field and fired a shot past the Hills goalkeeper. Hills showed a zone defense early and Kama showed his range. He stepped in from 15 yards, sticking a bounce shot up high for his second goal. This fast start was extremely valuable in setting the tone and giving the Dalers an early edge. </p>     <p class="text-gray-700">So many guys made so many little plays for Farmingdale, and Mangio was one of those players who did a little bit of everything. His first impact play came on defense, playing some amazing defense and forcing a turnover down low. This led to an incredible sequence of poles moving the ball upfield and Farmingdale scoring an electrifying goal in transition to go up 3-1. Mangio then showed his goal-scoring ability with two goals on the day. Right after that big goal, Mangio caught the ball at midfield and realized the unsettled situation in front of him. It was a 3v3 situation where he went hard down the alley and connected on a high bouncer that went top shelf. Mangio had some good wing play in this game as well. After a face-off win, he got the ball and the defense didn't pick him up. Mangio fired another bounce shot past the Hills netminder to give the Dalers an 8-4 lead. </p>

Toughness and grit. Those are the two words that I would use to describe Farmingdale and they showed plenty of that in their second straight Long Island championship win. The Dalers slowed down a prolific Half Hollow Hills offense and held them to 6 goals. The Dalers' team defense and Jimmy Caputo's 11 saves would be the difference maker in this 11-6 win over Hills.