Travis Lax Era Opens to First Year Challenges
The first year of the Kevin Travis era proved challenging for the Huntington High School boys’ varsity lacrosse team. The Blue Devils compiled a 5-11 record and finished 12th in the league standings
Huntington was somewhat unlucky, letting leads slip away several times and dropping three games by a single goal and three other games by three goals. The team was never able to win back-to-back games.
Travis took over for Paul McDermott, who left after more than two decades at the helm of the program. The 33-player strong team was captained by Keegan Reilly, Tim Mattiace, Christian Fiordelisi and Chris Abbondandelo.
Mattiace excelled as a long-stick midfield, earning All-County and All-Division honors. He was named Suffolk League III Defensive Player of the Year. Reilly was recognized as All-Division for his defensive heroics.
The Blue Devils claimed wins over East Hampton (17-6), Westhampton Beach (11-6), Eastport-South Manor (10-9), Comsewogue (11-5) and Kings Park (15-13).
Where does the team go from here? The Blue Devils are losing Fiodelisi (33 goals, 11 assists), Mattiace (7g, 11a), Stephen Shivers (6g, 4a), Dylan Stieve (1a), Chris Bergmann (1a), Reilly, Daniel McCartney, Cooper Wakhale (86 saves in goal), Thomas Waldron, Justin Weigold (87 saves in goal) and Dylan Wheeler to graduation.
Who returns? Top scorer Garrett Moya, a talent rising junior who notched 36 goals and 17 assists for a team high 53 points. Also coming back will be Thomas Goldsmith (24g, 16a), Austin Reda (5g, 10a), Michael Bast (5g, 2a), Abbondandelo (7a), Matt Gelb (2g, 4a), Nat Amato (4g, 2a), Dan Brown (2g, 1a), Brian Weigold (2g, 1a), Lawrence Leake (1g), Jared Leake (1g), Ryan Gorecki (1g) and Ethan Dwyer (five saves in goal).
Joining the varsity returnees will be Elijah Benton, Ryan Buxton, Jon Canas, Cooper Cook, Dylan Cozine, Charlie Ehrman, Cameron Knox, Ryan LaBella, Hassan Nadeem, Mark Rafuse and William Wright.
“This season was great and I learned a lot from the team and especially the seniors,” Moya said. “They taught me to play with cooperation and showed me that the team was a family. I’m going to miss them a lot. I’m very excited for next year and think that we can have great success. It’s going to be nice to be one of the older guys on the team. Hopefully I can help show the younger guys the ropes the same way that the seniors have taught me.”
Travis and third year assistant coach Julian Watts are already well-underway with their planning for next year’s team. The varsity returnees will be bolstered by several top players expected to be promoted from the Blue Devils’ talented junior varsity squad and maybe even a few players that starred at J. Taylor Finley Middle School this past spring.