Nicholas DeMeo wanted to be sure to score, but wasn’t in a rush to do so.
“I didn’t want to miss it,” the Tottenville sophomore attack said. “I had a lot of time.”
DeMeo came rolling around the cage and found no one within 5 yards of him and the goal. The underclassman didn’t get nervous and shoot at the first sign of an opening. Instead he calmly stutter-stepped and rifled a shot into the lower left-hand corner for his second goal of the game and the winner in overtime.
“He knows how to finish,” senior midfielder Gino Agnese said.
The goal finished an improbable comeback in Tottenville’s 5-4 victory against visiting Xaverian in non-league boys lacrosse Tuesday. The Pirates also won in overtime last year after trailing on a Kenny Coughlin score.
“We never quit,” said DeMeo, who was mobbed by his teammates. “That’s our thing.”
The Staten Island school hadn’t scored for 10:42 over the third and fourth quarters. Finally Nick Lamorgese broke up a clear and Agnese put home a feed from DeMeo with six seconds left in regulation to send the game to the extra session. DeMeo’s brother Joe, who also played for Tottenville, is now a JV assistant at the school.
“He’s very savvy,” Pirates coach Demetrios Haronitis said of DeMao.
It was a win he was also happy to see with his team focused on winning a PSAL city championship. They have found ways to gut out victories, despite not scoring much, their last two times out. Tottenville (5-1) held off rival New Dorp 4-3 last week. Cody Rivera and Joseph Gentile added goals and Kenny Coughlin had an assist.
The Pirates defense, led by goalie Alec Meiselman hasn’t given up more than six goals this season. Haronitis feels Tottenville is the team to beat right now in the Championship division.
“To have them close out and get that win in overtime shows that they are hungry for our next step which is a championship,” he aid.
Closing out games is something Xaverian coach Brian McNulty said his team needs to learn to do if it wants to reach the upper echelon of CHSAA Class A. The Clippers (1-1) never trailed and had leads of 2-0 early and 4-2 late in the third. Gavin Siewers scored twice and Jeremy Mangano added a goal and an assist. X-Men junior keeper James Angelillo, a three-year starter, was superb in net, making nine saves, including three in the final three minutes of regulation.
“We need to expect to beat teams like this,” McNulty said. “That’s what will take us to the next step as a program. …“Now we need to hope to beat teams like this on a regular basis.”
That is where Tottenville is at right now, refusing to lose despite somewhat improbable circumstances. It’s an experience the Pirates hope that will get them ready for winning and celebrating a title later this year.
“Once I put it in,” DeMeo said, “I was just waiting ofor team to come out and get laid out.”