Another game where Michael Aiello simply took over. Aiello finished with 3 goals and 3 assists but he showed up with the game on the line. 14 seconds left and down by 1, Aiello had the ball and was matched up with Syracuse commit Cam Ryan. Aiello started up top and took Ryan behind the cage and there was only 5 seconds left. Aiello then went to his signature move where he did an inside roll and scored right before the buzzer sounded to send this game to overtime. But forget the stat sheet, Aiello made numerous key plays that didn’t show up there. And one of those plays came in the overtime period, South Side won the faceoff but with the ball on the ground, it was Aiello making a play on a Victor defender to send the ball out of bounds and give the Cyclones that possession. That was a crucial play that led to South Side scoring the game winner just moments later. Throughout this game, the Skidmore commit had command the entire way. On all 3 goals he was able to use his body control and field awareness to role past his defender and score. He plays with his head up and proved to be a constant threat to feed with collecting 3 more assists on the season in this game

All of Aiello’s points came in the second half, as he finished with two goals and three assists while playing a huge role in South Side’s epic comeback after trailing 7-2. He got the comeback started with his first goal, making it 7-3. Aiello dodged from the lefty wing and went hard underneath before sticking one top shelf. The Cyclones immediately had an EMO, and Aiello made a smart “one more” pass up top for his teammate to fire in a laser. South Side would eventually only be down by two goals as the third quarter was winding down, and that’s when Aiello went back to work. He noticed the lack of time and saw he had space to work with. Aiello got a step on his defender and was able to protect his stick and finish on top of the crease as time expired. This gave South Side its fourth goal in a row in just two minutes. Aiello then added three more assists in the final frame. He was working up top and hit his teammate cutting across the crease with a perfect pass for the easy finish to tie this one up. Aiello dished two more assists and helped South Side score eight goals in the final 14 minutes of this game.

In the second half of this season, Aiello became the catalyst for South Side. He had another great day for the Cyclones, putting up two goals and three assists in the victory. The physical lefty attackman has put together an All-American caliber season and showed his scoring ability and lacrosse IQ in the Long Island title. Aiello showed off his strength and awareness on his first goal. He was leaning into his defender and put himself in a position to pull off an inside roll and quickly finish for his first goal of the game. His IQ came into play when he caught East Islip’s defense sleeping. The Cyclones were man down, but as Aiello was killing clock he noticed Lynch open on a cut down low and he threw a dime of a home run pass to Lynch for the easy finish. He continued to display his vision by threading the needle on a pass from X to Liam Livingston Liam Livingston 5'9" | 145 lbs | A | Right Hand South Side | 2024 NY for a highlight reel behind-the-back goal in the 4th quarter. Aiello put the icing on the cake with the team’s final goal of the game, a hard lefty sweep to the middle of the field which resulted in his 51st goal of the season.