The Massapequa Chiefs come in at number 22 in the LILJ top 24 preseason rankings. On the South Shore of Nassau County the Chiefs hail from Class A and are one of the nine teams playing in the newly formatted power conference in Nassau boys lacrosse. Last season they were a .500 team in the regular season with an 8-8 record and appeared in the playoffs where they were defeated in the semifinals by Port Washington by the slimmest of margins in what was an 8-7 game. This year Massapequa got the competitive juices going this winter when they played in the LILJ HSWL, and are looking to bring home some hardware this spring.
The Chiefs saw a number of graduates from last season’s team, especially on the offensive end of the field, and this season they will be looking for a lot of production from a trio of returning attackmen in seniors Ricky Geier, Jack Garguilo, and sophomore Tyler Byrnes with their top attacker Michael Durnin from last year part of the 2023 graduating class. Last season Garguilo poured in 31 points, while Bynres totaled 20 and Geier 17. Adding to their attack as someone that will likely see an enhanced role this season is junior Hunter Gillis.
Looking at the midfield, Massapequa brings back four seniors, Adam Lamendola (Cortland) Michael Weigand (Maritime), Joe Fazio (Maritime), and Joey Diesso as they look to fill the void left behind by 2023 graduates Will Barney and Patrick Radomski. At the face-off X they return senior FOGO Aidan Stanton (Geneseo) who will be an X factor. Last season the Chiefs averaged 11.8 goals per game which was good for the sixth most in Nassau County.
Defensively they return their senior defensemen Nicholas Hinck (Nazareth), Nicholas Margiotta (Wingate), and senior LSM Ryan Wieczorek (UMass), and add junior Harrison Heckman playing in front of junior goalie Michael Jannotte, entering his first season as the starter in place of older brother Matthew Jannotte who was in the class of 2023. Jannotte comes off a very strong showing in the winter league where he stopped 56 shots with a 55% save percentage in six games against numerous high level opponents on the island.
Expect Massapequa to be right back in the final four of Nassau Class A with a chance to potentially play for a county title which would be their first since 2019.
