4/14/07 BY JEFF GOLD Newsday
The team with the lead was frustrated. The team that trailed was encouraged.
So much for the scoreboard being the ultimate indicator.
At the end of the first quarter of Friday's boys lacrosse game between Nassau Conference I rivals Farmingdale and Hicksville, the Dalers held a one-goal lead.
But it could have been more.
Farmingdale didn't get the same opportunities and looks it had in the first for the rest of the game, and Hicksville won, 8-6.
"When you don't finish, you're asking for trouble," Farmingdale coach Bob Hartranft said. "It comes back to haunt you when you don't bury your chances. We should have been up 5-1 at the quarter. Maybe 6-1."
Instead, Farmingdale led 2-1, as it had difficulty solving Hicksville goalie Eric Janssen, who made four difficult saves in the first quarter and totaled 16 in all.
"That was the kind of game we wanted," Hicksville coach Chuck Arnone said. "It didn't matter if we were up or down. We just wanted to be in it and go from there. Our goalie had quite a day and our defense tightened up."
Hicksville (6-1, 3-0) scored the first three goals of the second quarter to take a 4-2 lead with 5:31 left in the half.
The score was tied three more times before Hicksville's Dimitri Vouvoudakis' third goal put the Comets up for good and gave them a 7-6 lead with 1:45 left in the third quarter.
James Mohrman's goal off an assist from Vouvoudakis extended Hicksville's lead to 8-6 with 7:52 left in the game. Farmingdale (5-2, 2-1) never seriously threatened for the remainder.
"We needed to keep the score down," said Arnone, whose team was the first to hold Farmingdale below 10 goals. "Our defense played excellent today, and when they did get good looks, Janssen came up huge."
For Hicksville, the win served as some validation for its impressive start and was a statement against one of its biggest rivals and a top Conference I competitor.
"This is significant. They're one of the best teams in the county and a team we always look at," Janssen said. "Hopefully, we can ride this for a while. We have to remember how this feels because we want to feel it a lot."
After winning its first three games easily, Farmingdale has dropped two of its last four.
"There's nothing wrong with us," Hartranft said. "We just aren't finishing."