Former Tuckers lax star takes over as head coach

Jeff Hauser has come full circle with the Mattituck/Greenport/Southold boys lacrosse team. As a star player years ago, he was a leader on the field. As head coach of the squad today, he will be the leader on the sidelines. Hauser was recently tabbed to succeed John Amato, who stepped down after an 11-year run.

“It’s really cool to be back here and teaching at the same place that I went to school, on the same field that I remember being a 16-year-old kid. Now I’m in charge of it all. It’s really crazy,” Hauser said. “To be back here as the head coach of where I started, 12 years later, it’s kind of a surreal feeling. I have a lot of good stuff to look forward to this year. I’m just really excited about it.”

Hauser was a natural choice for Mattituck athletic director Gregg Wormuth.

“He was a standout player as a high school athlete. He was a leader on the field,” Wormuth said. “He led by example. Jeffrey is a humble kid. He’s not a real vocal person. He’s more of a doer and lead-by-example type of guy.”

Hauser, 27, graduated in 2016 and currently teaches special education for Mattituck junior high students.

“He’s a very solid teacher,” Wormuth said. “Good coaches are generally good teachers. When you put that knowledge of the sport of lacrosse with the ability to instruct, you’ve got a home run. When coach Amato said, ‘I’m going to take a step back at this point in my in my career; let’s hand the baton over to Jeffrey,’ I was 100% confident that that was the right move and the right person to give it to.”

Hauser is expected to enjoy a relatively smooth transition. He was an assistant coach for the last two seasons and helped at Amato’s summer clinics over the years.

“A lot of my boys on the team I’ve known since I was a senior in high school, when I was helping John Amato,” he said. “These guys were in third and fourth grade. I have a good rapport with a lot of these guys.”

Hauser’s goals this season are twofold: Help the Tuckers play more consistently and reach the Suffolk County Class D final again. Mattituck captured the 2023 title, defeating Babylon, but lost in last year’s championship game to the Panthers.

“I would love to have a winning season,” said Hauser, whose new squad finished at 5-12 last year, playing many larger schools in Division II. “The last couple of seasons, we’ve gone back and forth. We’ve lost some games that we should have won. We also had a couple of upsets. We beat Miller Place and we beat [Eastport-South Manor] for the first time in program history. I’m hoping we can be a little bit more consistent … and maybe knock off a couple of ranked opponents and make it back to the county championship.”

The Tuckers have a veteran team returning, including six key seniors.

“We’re very senior-heavy, which is good this year,” Hauser said. “It’ll be an issue next year. A lot of these guys were on our county championship team two years ago, when they were sophomores. They have experience. They play year-round. I’m excited to see what these guys can do.”

The senior core of the team includes goaltender Andrew McKenzie, who has totaled 350 career saves since his freshman year; defenders Dylan Cifarelli and Ryan Luhrs; long stick midfielder Luke Weir; and attacking midfielders Justin Fox and Shane Psaltis.

“We got a couple of juniors and sophomores that are filling in those pieces,” Hauser said.

The team’s first official practice was Monday, March 17, although many players have been working out on their own.

“For the last couple of weeks, they’ve been doing some indoor and outdoor practices,” Hauser said. “They’re texting me on the side, ‘Hey, can we do this in practice? Hey, can we work on this?’ It’s nice to see them take the initiative, instead of me having to track guys down to hope that they show up to practice. They’re all ready to go. They want to compete. They want to get the season started right away. Can’t ask for more than that.”

The Tuckers start their season with a non-league game at Riverhead Wednesday, March 26, at 4 p.m.