Long Beach Boys Lacrosse Competes with County's Best

The Long Beach boys lacrosse team has shown this season that it can compete with the best in Nassau County.

Despite a 10-6 loss to longtime county powerhouse Wantagh Tuesday evening, Long Beach is 12-2 heading into its regular season finale Thursday at New Hyde Park. The Marines sailed to an 11-0 start including an impressive 7-5 road win at Farmingdale before its unbeaten streak was snapped in a hard-fought 8-5 defeat at defending state champion Garden City on April 30. Long Beach is in line to be a three seed in the upcoming Nassau County Class B playoffs that begins Monday. 

Following Tuesday’s setback to Wantagh in which the Marines were outscored 8-3 to end the game after holding a 3-2 first quarter lead, longtime head coach Jim Kaspar said he wants to see more improvement from his team heading into the playoffs.

“We need to concentrate on improving ourselves,” said Kaspar, whose team has achieved success in 2013 despite having a smaller roster than most teams. “We don’t have a lot of depth.”

Long Beach’s offense has been bolstered in 2013 by Syracuse-bound midfielder James Forkin, who tallied six goals in a 13-7 victory against Bellmore-JFK on April 17. Forkin is one of three Marines committed to playing in Division I colleges next season along with defenseman Jake Brown (Army) and midfielder Billy Kane (Boston University), according to laxpower.com’s recruiting database. 

The Marine players like many on the Long Beach Barrier Island were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy last fall, but Kaspar said the impact from the superstorm has not had any effect on the 2013 season.

 “It hasn’t made a difference at all,” he said. “Most players have been back to a normal routine since about January.”

Long Beach closes the regular season on Thursday at New Hyde Park starting at 4:30 p.m. The Marines first playoff game is scheduled for Monday with the exact opening round matchup to be announced when brackets are released Friday.