By Jaclynkelli Kronemberg
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 6/1/16

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Matt Licciardi grabbed 24 of 27 face-offs and tallied three goals and two assists to boost Cold Spring Harbor to a 17-9 victory over previously undefeated Locust Valley for the Nassau County Class C Championship Tuesday at Hofstra University.

Cold Spring Harbor (15-1, ranked 16th in C2C North America Rankings) will face the winner of Wednesday night’s Suffolk C championship between Babylon and Greenport/Southold/Mattituck for the Long Island title on Saturday at Hofstra.

Locust Valley (16-1, No. 9 in the C2C Rankings) had dealt the Seahawks their only defeat 10-9, on May 6, snapping a 29-game win streak for the defending state champions.

“It felt really good to get the win,” said Licciardi. “The boys played their hearts out. I’m so proud of all of them.

All I think at the face-off X is getting my team the ball. My teammates did a great job helping me at the X. When we are sharing the ball it is pretty special to watch.”

Cold Spring Harbor jumped out to a 6-2 lead by the end of the first quarter. With Licciardi at the x Locust Valley was never able to get close. In the first half Licciardi grabbed 13 out of 16 face-offs and Cold Spring Harbor scored 10 goals only allowing Locust Valley to get five goals. Kevin Winkoff tallied four goals and Taylor Strough and Riley Cox tallied three goals each for Cold Spring Harbor.

“This never gets old,” said Cold Spring Harbor head coach Dennis Bonn. “It is really special to win the county championship. My hats off to Locust Valley, they were undefeated, beat us 10-9. They are a quality team.

“I’m really proud of our kids. I think the best thing that happened to us was that loss. The X was getting bigger and bigger on our back and that calmed us a little bit. We made a lot of mistakes in that game that we thought we could clear up, things we thought we could take advantage of a little bit. I thought our defense played good. It is good to get this win. It is an honor to represent Nassau County and we will be doing that on Saturday.”

Mike Madsen and Own Trepeta each tallied three goals each for Locust Valley.

“They were better than us tonight,” said Locust Valley head coach Keith Cromwell. “They got it going early on us and we never got into our groove. I give the credit to Licciardi, he is a heck of a player. He owned the middle of the field. That is why he is an All-American candidate. He did his job very well tonight.”

Cold Spring Harbor 17; Locust Valley 9
CSH: 6-4-4-3-17
LV: 2-3-2-2-9

CSH: Kevin Winkoff 4G, Matt Licciardi 3G, 2A; Taylor Strough 3G; Riley Cox 3G; Matt DeGennaro 2G; Will Reed 2G, 1A; Ian Laviano 3A; Dylan Guarneri 1A
M: Mike Masden 3G; Owen Trepeta 3G; Cole Barnard 2G; Angelo Caiazzo 1G; Joe Madsen 1A; Tyler Liantonio 1A
Saves: Devin Burdo (CSH) 7; Christian Casazza (LV) 7