UMass-bound senior Brendan
Hegarty’s mother and sister couldn’t make the six-hour trip to Rochester to watch in person. His family watched the title game, a 16-4 shellacking of West Genesee, at the Bench, surrounded by their extended lacrosse family. “Every goal we scored, the bar was going crazy,” Hegarty said. “It was kind of unreal.” Among those celebrating was legend Joe Cuozzo, who won 699 games in 38 seasons at Ward Melville before a messy split in 2006. “The place was just packed with former players, parents and general fans,” Cuozzo said. “It was really exciting to see the spirit and pride.”
This used to be an annual rite. Forget Memorial Day. For Ward Melville, summer unofficially began the day the Patriots brought home the state title. But Ward Melville had not reached the title game since winning it in 2000. It wasn’t that the Patriots suddenly got bad at lacrosse, but rather that other towns wised up — towns like West Islip, which supplanted Ward Melville by copying its model and building at the youth level. Some seasons, Ward Melville might have been the second-best team in New York, but the Patriots could not get out of Suffolk County. Since 2002, West Islip had ended Ward Melville’s season 10 times and won 17 of 20 in the series. Patriots coach Mike Hoppey, who announced his retirement after the championship game, said support never wavered. “You can’t believe the number of emails and notes and phone calls I’ve received,” he said. “I must have heard from four- or five-hundred people.”
A Publication of US Lacrosse
Ward Melville finished 22-0 as the top-ranked team in the country and with a defense that invoked visions of the dominant units that defined the Cuozza era. The Patriots held eventual Class B champ Garden City to three goals. Nine days later, they throttled West Islip 11-2. As rivals fell and the buzz grew, Cuozzo addressed the players and reminded them what they were playing for. “I told them alums from all over the country have been contacting me,” he said. “You guys don’t realize how many people are following you.’”
Current players were too young to remember 2000, but they grew up understanding what Ward Melville was. “It meant the world to us,” Duke-bound midfielder Jack Bruckner said. The 2013 team was loaded. Bruckner (89 points), Hegarty (47 goals), Rutgers- bound Christian Mazzone (82 points) and sophomore sensation Danny Bucaro (57 goals) were the stars.
Players storm the field after Ward Melville’s 16-4 win over West Genesee.
“In eighth grade, coach had us write down goals for what we wanted in the future. A lot of us had the state
championship.” — Brendan Hegarty, senior attackman
It was for the first title for Hoppey, who took over in 2006 in a bumpy exchange of power from Cuozzo when the latter retired from teaching. Those fences have been mended, both coaches said. Cuozzo — the architect of seven state titles at Ward Melville and one at Mount Sinai in 2008 — said he was happy for Hoppey. It was a perfect sendoff for Hoppey and the senior class. “In eighth grade, coach had us write down goals for what we wanted in the future,” Hegarty said. “A lot of us had the state championship.” What is Ward Melville? It’s the kind of place where even after the season ends, a reporter will find four players together and they’ll opt to conduct a group interview over speakerphone. Where they fall into predicable roles and Bruckner, the team leader with 58 assists, makes sure each player complies with the request that he identify himself before speaking. Where they reunite to talk about what life’s been like since bringing the championship home, of congratulatory messages and free sandwiches at the deli and how weird it will be when they play each other in college but go back to being friends when the game finishes. So what is Ward Melville? “Ward Melville is back.” The quote went unattributed. “Who said that?” the reporter asked. There was a pause before four voices answered in unison. “That was all of us.” That was Ward Melville. LM
August 2013 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 35
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