Coach Guadagnino named coach of the year

The best is yet to come.

But for now, being honored as the most improved boys lacrosse program in Division I, coached by the man named Suffolk County coach of the year will do.

Coach Victor Guadagnino, in his second season as head coach of varsity team, led the Waves to their winningest season ever, 9-5 in Division I and 10-5 overall. The Waves just missed a playoff berth, with a final power-point ranking of 13 in the division.

That’s a long climb for a program that had finished above .500 just twice in its eight-year history before Guadagnino took over in 2011, following a dismal 3-13 last-place finish in 2010.

But Guadagnino, who brought with him a 16-year history as a winning lacrosse coach, was upbeat from the start, confident that he could turn the Riverhead program around.

He’d done it before.

After he helped build a powerhouse program at Shoreham-Wading River, he took the helm at William Floyd, where the boys lacrosse team had only six wins in eight years. After his third season, the Colonials made the playoffs every year. From 2000 to 2009 Guadagnino coached three All-Americans and became a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Century Club for Coaches with 100-plus wins. Under Guadagnino’s leadership, the Colonials were three-time Super Six champions.

In 2010, Guadagnino was an assistant coach at Dowling College, where the Golden Lions made it to the NCAA Division II Semi-Finals and finished just one goal shy of the national championship.

The Riverhead team graduated just one starter this year, and they will be back strong in 2013, Guadagnino predicted after learning the Waves had just barely missed a trip to the playoffs.

“It’s no longer an expectation that Riverhead’s going to be at the bottom of the league,” he said.

The Waves finished big this year, with three one-goal wins in a row. Five of their 10 wins in 2012 were by one goal. They win on “heart and hustle,” the coach said.

“This is a team that just won’t give up,” Guadagnino said.

In addition to being named 2012 coach of the year, Guadagnino is a four-time winner of the Suffolk County Sportsmanship Award and in 2009 was honored as man of the year by the Suffolk County Lacrosse Coaches Association.

The most improved program program in Division I can also boast about its grade-point average: the boys lacrosse team won a scholar-athlete award from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.

RiverheadLOCAL slideshow photos by Peter Blasl and George Faella
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