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Half Hollow Hills boys lacrosse tops Huntington - Newsday

Published 4 days ago3 minute read

Connor Hagans mentioned before the season that there was “unfinished business” for his Half Hollow Hills team after falling in the Long Island Class A title game last May. The coach has a prolific UNC-bound senior who knows what finished lacrosse business would look like.

“Going all the way and winning the state championship,” Anthony Raio said. “That’s been our goal since we stepped in the building our freshman year, and that’s what we intend on doing.”

Hills has the look of a group that’s capable of reaching its goal.

It went on the road Tuesday and beat a strong Huntington team, 12-7, to move to 15-0 overall and 13-0 in Suffolk I.

James Bruno scored five times. And Raio posted three goals and four assists. But the midfielder/attackman left with some unfinished business of his own.

Raio needed six goals to set Long Island’s career record. Syosset alum Jeff Cohen stands at 260, Raio is now at 258. He can chase it again in Thursday’s regular-season finale at Bay Shore.

“That’s not really something that’s on my mind,” Raio said. “If I get the record, I get it. It’s definitely an honor to be able to do that. But right now, I’m focused on winning a state championship. Whatever I get that comes with that, I’m happy to have.”

Raio’s Suffolk career goal-scoring record came with Saturday’s win over Commack.

“It definitely meant a lot,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without all my teammates. Most of my goals are assisted goals.”

Zach Marco got Hills started with a goal off one of Luke Bradley’s five assists. Then Raio rocketed a shot from up top and set up a goal by Bruno, and it was 3-0 after a quarter.

It was 6-0 at halftime.

Huntington (12-3, 10-3), which lost to Hills in last year’s county semifinals, could take encouragement from its 7-6 edge from there. Timmy McDonald and Tommy Kline each scored twice.

“A team like that, you have to be executing and you have to match the level of competition in the beginning of the game,” said Blue Devils coach Julian Watts, Hagans’ former Hofstra teammate/roommate.

Raio made it 10-1 in the third before Huntington came on.

“We just want to improve every day and be the last team standing when it’s all said and done,” Hagans said. “ . . . They’ve played together for a long time. It’s a good cohesive unit.”

Brian Heyman covers high school, college and pro sports. He joined Newsday in 2021 and previously worked as a sportswriter for The Journal News in White Plains and The Hudson Dispatch in Union City, New Jersey. His work has appeared in The New York Times, MLB.com and Baseball Digest magazine.

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