South Fork Lacrosse wasted no time scoring on Brentwood in its home opener last Thursday, netting eight goals in the first quarter. By halftime, the team had extended its lead to 4-0 on the way to a dominant 19-1 victory.
“The guys turned it on and delivered on what we asked them to do,” said Matt Babb, their head coach. “Control the ball, no turnovers, and play together, not so much the ‘hero ball’ as we say. We appreciate the effort they gave there. We were happy to get everyone in and run through our lineup.”
Zane Karoussos, a junior, led the scoring with three goals and four assists. A star on the South Fork team, Karoussos has already committed to play lacrosse at Cornell University. “Zane does what Zane does — ground balls for us, play L.S.M. [longstick midfield] for us, he can go down and play close defense, play attack. He does it all for us,” Babb said, pointing out how Karoussos set up Kodiak Tarrant for the 19th goal of the game with just a few minutes left. “Even finding Kodiak at the end there. He kept going, kept driving. He’s our leader on the field so we appreciate the effort he gives.”
Karoussos wasn’t the only one to score several goals. The juniors from Hampton Bays — Owen Haynes, Michael Single, and Brayden Talmage —combined for nine goals. Single and Talmage scored four apiece, while Haynes scored one. Single also had an assist. James Corwin, a senior from East Hampton High School, scored three goals. He’ll be heading to Poughkeepsie next fall to play lacrosse at Vassar College. Harry Karoussos, a freshman and Zane’s brother, scored two. Tarrant, a senior at Southampton High School, scored the final goal of the game.
While Brentwood didn’t exactly test South Fork’s defense, Coach Babb likes what he’s seen from his defense and from Oliver Edson, his goalie. “Our defense was solid and Oliver in goal has been fantastic so far this year. He’s done a really good job. He’s been showing up and this year, just in practices, he’s been different than he has in years past. We’ve noticed it and we like the way this season is playing out so far and how our team is coming together.”
South Fork will face some tough opponents later this season, including Half Hollow Hills (May 1), last year’s state champs, who went 23-0 and finished the season as the top public school in the country according to USA Lacrosse. The team will also play Northport (April 10), the seventh-best team in the country last year. Regardless of who they play, Coach Babb says the South Fork philosophy is the same.
“Stay in our system. Focus on what we do, what we coached you to do. Run our systems. Don’t try to do anything else. No one goes rogue. We’ll get the opportunities and we’ll play team ball and we’ll be successful.”
