Lakeland/Panas’ CC Savastano (4G, 2A), with assistance from Patrick Harkins (2G, 1A), helped the Rebels defeat visiting rival Mahopac 11-3 on April 1 at Walter Panas.
Harkins’ two goals came off assists from Savastano, including the first, which gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead 2:12 into the game. Harkins later assisted on one of Savastano’s goals.
“Pat had a great offseason this year and he just kept working,” Savastano said. “We are both captains of this team, we just executed.”
Savastano said that it felt “awesome” to win the rivalry contest.
“The coaches drew up a great game plan and we just came in here, executing, game by game and we are going to keep going,” Savastano said.
Winning a rivalry game is always huge, especially one that is steeped in tradition like Lakeland/Panas-Mahopac rivalry is.
“This is a game that goes back in the beginning when lacrosse was started here so there is a lot of pride and tradition in this game,” said Lakeland/Panas coach Joe Macchi. “We try to teach the kids about it. I played in this game when I was in high school for the other side, Mahopac, so I understand the rivalry on both sides of it now. We have a lot of young kids here and a lot of them matured today. They get that moment when you arrived on varsity, you had your varsity moment. We had a few kids do that today.”
Macchi played midfield for Mahopac before graduating in 2006.
“It’s special,” said Macchi, whose team improved to 2-1 [record] with the victory. “I have a lot of love and appreciation for that team over there. That side grooms who I am today. I’ll always have a lot of respect for them, I’m always rooting for them. I want them to be successful just like us.”
After Harkins’ score, unassisted goals from Keaton Wolf (2G), Savastano and Wolf again gave the Rebels a 4-0 advantage with 18 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Macchi said that while the fast start was important, holding that lead was crucial.
He said the team had built a similar lead against Carmel but struggled to hold it, so he was eager to see how they would respond after going up 4-0 again.
“I was proud of the way they answered the blows and the runs when they came from Mahopac today,” Macchi said. “We responded really well.”
Savastano’s third score came when he converted on a bounce shot into the goal, giving the Rebels a 7-2 lead with 1:34 left in the opening half.
“When they run a zone like that, they don’t press out,” Savastano said. “So if I am on top of that, I have my hands free.”
Savastano’s final goal came with 7:35 remaining in the game, when he beautifully went behind his back with his stick in front of the goal, shot and scored off an assist from Mike Zumatto (1G, 1A), putting the Rebels up 10-3.
“In practice, we do stuff like that and to do it in a game, it feels good,” Savastano said.
Anthony Ray (1G), Aaron Federoff (1G), Anthony Costa (1A), Dan Horowitz (10 saves), Nate Horowitz (5/9 faceoffs) and Frank Flannery (3/8 faceoffs) also contributed to the victory.
“We played really disciplined,” Macchi said. “We had a simple game plan, [the players] stuck to it. Guys finally stepped up, like I said before, some guys had their varsity moment today where they finally stepped up and realized that no one else is going to come and help them, they are going to actually have to make plays on their own and we had a bunch of guys do that.”
Lakeland/Panas will next host North Rockland at Panas 11 a.m. Saturday, April 4.
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