Checkmate Fought The Law And The Law Won; SCPD over Orange 6-3

Holtsville, NY--Led by solid goal -tending from Keith Huber (St. John's '89), SCPD improved to 3-2 on the season with a decisive win over Checkmate Orange last Friday night at the PAL Athletic Complex. Huber who normally splits halves with the other SCPD goalie played the entire contest. Returning to form which garnered him team MVP honors in his senior campaign at East Islip in 1985, Huber continued his dominant play between the pipes, which started two weeks ago with spectacular play at the Lake Placid Summit Lacrosse Tournament.

When questioned about his almost year long hiatus from Nor'Easter lax play he quipped “That was a long road, but one thing I knew was that I was determined to get back. I knew that if I ever got the opportunity to come back I was going to make the best of it. I had to do everything I possibly could to get back on the field and get a chance to play.”

SCPD held Checkmate to 2 goals at the half leading 4-2, and allowed only 1 goal the entire second half.

The Long Island Lax Blog was wondering how he felt about carrying the burden (in net) the entire game; “I feel like I can do that,” Huber said. “I can go out there and get the job done, especially in this league. We’ve got two totally different styles and I think we complement each other very well.”

SCPD's next game is versus Land Sharks Blue on 8/20 @ 10pm.

Checkmate Orange drops to 1-1. Next game is against Checkmate Black 8/27 @10 pm.

Land Sharks Red Reel In Checkmate Orange, Tie for 1st Place

"Blanket" ponders what went wrong in loss to Land Sharks

Holtsville, NY--Led by outstanding goalie play by Rob Serratore (Stony Brook '91) and stellar defense by Ed Coleman (St. John's '94), the now 1st place Land Sharks Red defeated Gregg "Blanket" Giampaolo's Checkmate Orange 8-3.

It was a balmy night under the stars last Friday at the PAL Athletic Conference so much that the humidity took the life out of the now 2nd place Checkmate Orange and the curl out of Giampaolo's hair.

Land Sharks Red were firmly in control the entire contest. Teammates largely attributed the win to net-minder Rob Serratore. Although he is on the roster he was not scheduled to play. He received a phone call early that evening that forced him to cancel plans to play in his weekly softball game and don his lax equipment and head to Holtsville.

Often touted as one of the stingiest goalies in LI Masters lacrosse, Serratore stopped numerous Checkmate scoring attempts.

The game's most memorable moment was one of "Blanket" Giampaolo's tomahawk checks against an opposing offensive player minutes into the game. The check dislodged the ball. Teammate Doug DeRosa aka"Doug E. "Fresh" scooped up the loose ball and raced down the field setting up a fast break goal. It was that play which set the tone for the rest of the contest.

Land Sharks Red are now tied with Lily Flanigan's for 1st place. Both teams sit at 3-1.

Checkmate Orange dumps Lily Flanigans (Again!) 10-3

Holtsville, NY--Thanks to a Gregg Giampaolo hat-trick, Checkmate Orange continued its dominance over a struggling Lily Flanigan's squad. Lily drops to 0-1 on the season, but has struggled over the last five weeks going 1-5 during that stretch and losing their last five games (including the 1st summer session). Checkmate Orange (1-0)hasn't dropped a game since the 2nd week of May when the now defunct Rhinos handed them a 6-4 loss during that same 1st summer session.

Next up for Lily Flanigans is rematch with GreyDogz on 7/16. While Checkmate Orange faces off against Brunos on 7/17.

Tonights Games.....

Pro Lacrosse
LI Lizards vs. Boston Cannons 7pm at Shuart Stadium in Uniondale, NY
Prediction : Lizards 12 Cannons 8

Club Lacrosse
Land Sharks White vs. Grey Dogz 9pm at PAL Complex in Hotlsville, NY
Prediction: Sharks 9 Dogz 4

Lily Flanigans vs. Checkamte Orange 10pm at PAL Complex in Holtsville, NY
Prediction: Flanigans 11 Checkmate 10

Nor'Easter Playoffs Begin Tonight

No. 1 seeded Checkmate Orange vs. No. 4 seeded Land Sharks Red @ 8:30pm

No. 2 seeded Checkmate Black vs. No.3 seeded Lily Flanigans @ 9:30pm.

Championships to be held Wednesday July 1st.

Congratulations and best of luck to all qualifiers!

Checkmate Orange upends Rhinos

Checkmate Orange pictured here as a lion, beats the Rhinos last thursday night at CIS. The Rhino in this picture is played by Scotty Fitz.

Incredulous! Rhinos fall to 2-1 on the season as Checkmate Orange (aka C.O.) improve to 2-1. Does anyone out there know what happened to the Rhinos here?

Orange Crush!!

Checkmate Orange advances its record to 1-4 on the season and a lifetime record of 1-528 with last thursday's win over the Rhinos. It was a close fought match-up where the lead changed sides over eight times. And that was only counting the first half.
The Checkmates goalie, who was more Hells Angel than New England Prep school, managed to hold off a Rhino offensive charge late in the game. The Rhinos were down 19-15 with just over two minutes left and poured in 3 goals to close the gap to the final score of 19-18. Unfortunatley, for the Rhinos penalties poached them again, as a final penalty with under 30 ticks left on the clock did them in.
It was the Rhinos' best showing thus far.

The Rhinos see their next lax action in two weeks. Team and game time TBA.