He wears number 14 on his jersey, and it’s fitting. Michael Single, a junior from Hampton Bays, has 14 goals in South Fork Lacrosse’s last three games. He scored five of them on April 15 against Longwood, helping South Fork win 10-6 at East Hampton High School, one of its home fields.
“I’m excited about this season. I feel like we have a good team this year and we’re going to do a lot of good things,” Single said. “I just want to win. I want to make the playoffs this year. It’s going to be a big thing if we do.”
Single has already committed to play lacrosse at Pennsylvania College of Technology after he graduates in 2027. His head coach, Matt Babb, isn’t surprised at all by Single’s recent offensive explosion.
“This is the Michael Single we knew,” Babb said. “We knew who he was coming into this year and with him taking the faceoffs this year, it gets the ball in his stick that much faster and you can see the benefit of it today.”
Single won 11 faceoffs and had one assist on top of his five goals against Longwood. Babb said he was one of several players who stood out.
“I thought Nate Barbour played very well defensively. He has such a big frame with the long pole so we put him at the top especially on man down where he’s playing two guys at once. He just gets in that lane and knocks it down. He’s so long it’s hard to get around him,” Babb said. “And Ollie [Edson], in goal, played phenomenal. He’s been stepping up this year and it’s great to see. He’s leading us down there and just the communication over all. Theo Ball is another one, hustling for ground balls, playing great position.”
One of the most impressive things to watch during a South Fork Lacrosse game is Zane Karoussos switching from offense to defense. Karoussos plays midfield, running to the sidelines to swap his short stick for a long stick on defense. If that doesn’t sound particularly impressive, it’s like watching a football quarterback returning to the field with the defense to play cornerback.
“Zane is running the entire game, for 48 minutes he is running,” Babb explained. “I ask him, ‘Are you good?’ and he says, ‘Yup! I’ve got to go back out there for another one.’ Knowing he’s one of the top players every time he steps on the field, it’s kind of a hard balance to find there. But as long as he’s willing to do it, we’re going to let him run. It’s impressive. I know I couldn’t do it.”
But Zane’s not alone. His younger brother, Harry, a freshman, also plays middie and longstick middie. “Harry had a tough time with penalties, but he hustled doing the same thing as Zane, up and down, subbing with the long pole and the short stick,” Babb said.
That flexibility, coupled with the return of several players who have been out over the last few weeks will hopefully give South Fork the depth it needs to continue its winning ways.
“I think our strength is being balanced. Our defense is playing well. Our offense is playing well. We can strike from the midfield. We can strike from the attack. I think we’ve got a nice even balance across the board,” Babb said.
“These guys have been playing shorthanded a number of weeks now and now we’re starting to see guys come back and that’s starting to pay off so they’re not winded in the second half. We can get the ball, slow the pace a little bit, and take some time off the shot clock. That helps. To see it turn out with the ultimate victory like it did today is a good thing. I’m proud of the guys. They put in the hard work.”
