Checkmate Black make Rhinos look like childs play

Ronkonkoma, NY--Written off the last month, the resurgent Checkmate Black are making a strong playoff push.

Greg Giampaolo had two penalties and one ground ball, Doug Fresh had one goal on a broken play and Checkmate Black beat the struggling Rhinos 21-15 last Thursday night for their third straight victory.

Checkmate Black (6-1) remained a half-game behind Good and Tender Meats in the race for the top playoff spot at CIS. They have to win their last game and need Good and Tender to lose their last game to secure the top spot.

"We put everything together and we're playing some pretty good ball right now", said midfielder Greg Giampaolo, who set a team record by playing in his 181st game with Checkmate. " We are a very, very confident group and we're looking forward to this next game."

The Rhinos (3-4) have lost three of their last four games. At least they finally played better in transition creating opportunities for themselves on both sides of the field. The Rhinos, who couldn't ride or clear the previous three games could be looking for a new coach to replace Kevin "Bagger Vance" Morris after the season.

"Our guys tried but I don't think we have enough ammunition to match up with them," team captain 'Broadway' Brett Jeffares said. " We fought in there defensively. We gave up some easy goals and got some turnovers. We were ineffective finding the back of the net."

Despite scoring first with a quick goal, the Rhinos soon relinquished their lead and trailed the rest of the game. Down 12-7 at halftime they couldn't close the gap down the stretch.

The Rhinos' Nick Marks ('Wogue '99) scored his second hat trick of the season and Brian Davis (Southampton '94) padded his stats by adding four goals and two assists. Adam "The Israeli Assassin" added two more for the Rhinos. Jacobs miss-fired on two more would be goals. " I made two mistakes that cost us pretty good,” the Assassin said. “I can’t put the defense in that spot."

Since his benching two week ago, Giampaolo has played like the guy who won five Jerry's kids awards and led Checkmate Black to four consecutive St. Mary's School for the Blind Lacrosse Championships. He has five ground balls and ten penalties in the last three games. His shot percentage is zero.

"He's playing confident, he's being aggressive with the ball and he's managing the game well," teammate and fellow midfielder Doug Fresh said.

Giampoalo came out firing in the first half, missing all five shots on the opening possession, including a wide open shot a point blank range.

In the second half, Doug "Doug E. Fresh" DeRosa stepped in front of a Steve Maloney pass intended for "Broadway" Brett Jeffares and raced ten yards for a goal to make it 17-12.

It was the first goal this season for Doug Fresh, who just agreed in terms to playing with Checkmate for the next six years. " It was definitely overdue", Doug said. " I dropped a couple of passes. It was time to finally get one. I'm sick of Giampaolo taking all the credit."

Glenn Mattson (Marist '92) defensive standout for Checkmate constantly harassed the Rhino attackmen throughout the evening, holding the Rhinos to less than ten goals per half.

Notes: Checkmate improved to 10-2 in December dating back to 2006..Rhinos' Scott Ferguson scored is 51st goal, setting a single-season team record(two on the night).....Rhinos have lost four or more games in four seasons of play (2 indoor, 2 outdoor)....D Jim Laura(wedding plans), M Scott Fitzgerald(sniffles) and M Rob Martin(bruised ego) sat out for the Rhinos.

Jesters crushed again courtesy of Rhinos

Rich Nessim, pictured here, frowns after losing to Rhinos and bruising his beer belly

Ronkonkoma, NY--The Rhinos finally looked like world-beaters. Brett Jeffares scored two goals against his favorite punching bag and Rob Martin had three goals and two assists including one to Scott Fitzgerald, to give the Rhinos a 28-20 victory against the LI Jesters on Thursday night.

It was the Rhinos' 11th straight win over their arch rivals in a series dating back to the birth of lacrosse play at CIS in 2006.

The Rhinos (3-3) snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in five games. Once considered favorites to win the CIS Fall '08 Championship, they're still going to need a miracle to reach the playoffs. They trail Schlitz Faced by 2 games in the standings.

"It's a win and we take it no further than that," captain "Broadway" Brett Jeffares said.

"We don't want to make it more than it really is. It's one win; we got three games to go with two tough games. But it was a good confidence boost."


The Rhinos rebounding with such a fine showing didn’t surprise offensive star Scott Ferguson (Oswego '99) . The former All-American had six goals and six assists on the night. "We got a real good group of guys here that have a lot of pride and play for one another and I think that is evident when you are 2-3 and play with the energy and excitement and the care for one another that we did.”

The Rhinos were down 12-7 at the half. However in a momentum shifting series of plays to start the half, Jester's midfielder Rich Nessim was stripped twice by Scott Fitzgerald. Nessim also lost his stick on one of the checks, leading to 3 quick points for the Rhinos. Nessim was knocked down and didn't get up after getting stripped for the second time and was later taken to the locker room on a cart with an injured ankle and a bruised beer belly.

Tom " The God Father" Brazell tried to replace Nessim's intensity at the start of the second half. After dishing out an assist he was shut down by Rob Stossel until late in the game where managed another assist on a garbage time goal.

The Jester's (1-5) reached another losing record for the sixth straight year. They are 3-89 since being routed by Team HLL and former Checkmate coach Kevin Morris in the Cantiague Lacrosse Championship in Hicksville on August 15, 2003.


Martin's third goal of the night midway through the second half was the 7th of his brilliant two-year career.


A major milestone was reached when Rhinos' midfielder Scottie Fitz scored his goal early in the first half. It was the first of his illustrious career and was received with great fanfare by his teammates. “We’re excited to finally get back on track,” Scottie said. “It’s taken a while. We’ve had to go through a lot of ups and downs.”

Good and Tender Meats mince Rhinos 25-14

Ronkonkoma, NY-- In Tuesday night play at Center Island Sports, Good and Tender Meats (5-0)remained undefeated and handed the skidding Rhinos (2-3) their third loss in as many games.

The Meats led for the majority of the contest. They had a modest lead early in the first half at which one point the Rhinos managed to tie the contest at 6-6. However, Meats pulled ahead 12-7 to end the half.

Second half action saw the Meats turn their level of play up a notch scoring an additional 13 goals. The Meats destroyed the Rhinos in the transition game, like Jay Cutler's Broncos picking apart the New York Jets' secondary. Rhinos players often looked confused and clueless as they watched ground balls roll right past them, substituted instead of playing defense (in transition), stood still on offense, and played matador defense.

In set defensive sets the Rhino Close-d led by Kenny "The Marine" Costa, played great despite having their hands full. The unit surrendered one goal if that. Again, most if not all of the Meats goals came in transition and unsettled situations.

Despite the Rhinos' offensive struggles their where a few bright spots that are worth mentioning Scott Ferguson, Brett Jeffares, Chris Amplo and last but not least Rob Martin. Martin has increased his goal scoring by 400% from the previous indoor season. He has has four goals in five games. Rob's recent success is attributed to a sharp decline in Marlboro Reds and his partaking of Bikram yoga.

In other action on Tuesday night Remnants defeated Bruno's 18-14. The Remnants improve to 2-3 on the season while Bruno's Detroit Lion-esquely remain win-less at 0-5. This win for the Remnant's sets the stage for next weeks highly anticipated match-up versus the Rhinos. The Remnants are looking to avenge a 8-7 overtime loss suffered June 17, 2008 to the Rhinos in Nor'easter lacrosse play and controversial comments posted on LI Lax Blog about their play.