Setting a precedent, the newly formed U-13 (ages 12 and 13 years old) Team Hills Elite Lacrosse team ran the table and went undefeated in the Tri-State National Summer Lacrosse Festival.  Teams from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Upstate New York, as well as Long Island were represented in their tournament division.  Team Hills dominated their division winning all 8 of the games including the championship game against The Renegades, a Connecticut/Upstate New York team, 3-2 in the summer heat of New Jersey. Team Hills, just formed in the late spring, had its first major tournament win.

 The U-13 Team Hills club is coached by Reggie Thearle, the junior varsity lacrosse coach of Hills East.  He is assisted by the commissioner of the Hills Lacrosse Club, Eric Geringswald, as well as Tony DeLosReyes.  The team has been practicing together for about five weeks and includes boys who are going into seventh and eighth grades.  However, due to previous commitments during the July 4^th holiday weekend, a number of boys were unable to attend this tournament, so the roster was young, consisting of 13 seventh graders and 3 eight graders.

Despite being 8 players short, including their other goalie, the Team Hills boys took the other teams to task.  Lead by goalie, Anthony “A-Train” DeLosReyes, who played all 280 minutes of the tournament, Team Hills allowed only 5 goals in 3 games during playoff Sunday.  “A-Train” steamed through the attack of opposing teams, stopping almost all shots, leaving opponents slamming their sticks in frustration.  The defense was led by Brian Dunne, Chris Makowski, Ben Noskin, Justin Manzi, and Patrick Forrester, who checked their opponents into submission.  Dunne, whose tall height and large frame belie his 12 year old chronological age, slammed attackers into the dust.  Manzi and Forrester have quick feet and fine stick skills, more reminiscent of a middie than a defenseman.  Makowski had an outstanding all-around tourney and Noskin played ably when most needed.

At middie Jesse Parker and Michael Marnell led the way with their intensity, winning the majority of their face-offs and leading the scoring at midfield. The middies had a punishing rotation, since they only had 2 lines, and were often running more on heart than anything else.  Balancing out this tough group were speedster Ryan Carter, overpowering Joe Sienna, scrappy expatriate Joe Busuttil (on hiatus from Japan), and all-around talent Tyler Balkan.

The attack, an unrelenting group, includes stickhandler extrordinaire Anthony Ramaizel, extreme passer and shooter David Rivoir, master the top shelf Jack Forrester, and smoothly effective Brandon Labarbera.

The championship game was a thriller played in 90 degree heat.  As one of the parents noted, the weather was hot, but Team Hills was hotter.  With A-Train stifling almost all The Renegades shots, the game was tight.  David Rivoir scored the first two goals by Hills, but The Renegades played hard and tied up the game with 5 minutes left.  With about a minute left in the game, Jesse Parker, looking like a running back going through heavy traffic, avoided three Renegades and just missed a shot that was backed up by the alert Jack Forrester.  Forrester then fired the ball to Anthony Ramaizel who burned a hole in the upper top of the cage. Team Hills jumped and cheered in unison as the final seconds ran out.

The ultimate goal of the newly formed Team Hills Elite summer program is to provide a competitive outlet for the dedicated student athlete to further develop his or her skills so that they are prepared to play lacrosse at the next level. It is the belief that through a partnership of forces with the Varsity Coaches of Half Hollow Hills High Schools East and West, athletes will be in the best position to raise their game to the next level. 

Team Hills Land on the Long Island Lacrosse Map

Opening Day for Team Hills Lacrosse was fantastic.  Not only did we look great, but the effort and sportsmanship demonstrated by each of our teams was outstanding.  Team Hills made its presence known in the Long Island Lacrosse community at the Massapequa Tournament in each of the age groups:   

• U-17 went 3-0 convincingly beating the Long Island Express Blue Team, Babylon Bullets and Garden City Checkmate. 

• U-15 went 2-2 defeating one Long Island Express Team and Long Island Sting Team.  We also had one loss to teams from the Long Island Express and Sting.

• U-13 went 2-1-1 for the weekend.  They defeated a tough Syosset team under the Friday Night lights in a 3-1 defensive battle.  They then went on to a 1-1-1 record in the Massapequa Tournament defeating the Massapequa Mud-Dogs (6^th Grade A team), coming back to tie a physically bigger Wantagh team and losing to The Long Island Outlaws in a well played exciting game.

• The U-11 Team went 1-2, losing to the Long Island Owls and Long Island Outlaws and defeating a team from Commack. 

• The U-9 Hills Lacrosse Team – future Team Hills Stars – took home the gold from the Lax Max Tournament in Maryland.  They went 5-0 and won first place in the tournament!   

Our organization went a staggering 13-5-1 against some very stiff competition in its first tournament weekend.  Congratulations to all players and coaches.  You did a fine job.