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By Steven Zaitz

One of America’s great Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said that the only two things that are certain in this life are death and taxes.

If Franklin had been around for the past three field hockey seasons, he might have added the Northport field hockey team to his list, as the Lady Tigers, entering Monday’s clash against the Ward Melville Lady Patriots, had won 68 consecutive games dating back to March 2021.

That winning streak, just like good Ole Ben, now lives only in the history books.

Fueled by two goals from senior Julia Rotoli, one by junior Jadyn Stoecker and a suffocating defense that did not allow a shot on goal in the entire second half, Ward Melville finally broke Northport’s stranglehold on the New York state field hockey scene with a 3-0 win in East Setauket on the final day of the regular season.

Ward Melville was a victim of the Lady Tigers’ dominance six times during the winning streak, including three elimination playoff games — the most excruciating of which occurred in the 2021 Suffolk County finals when Northport scored two goals in the fourth quarter to win 2-1. In addition to that county championship, the Tigers have won the past two state titles while Ward Melville has bitterly watched them win on the livestream.

“Every season is a new season,” said Patriot head coach and Ward Melville alum Shannon Sioss. “We were sick of losing to them, especially in the counties. And every day we come out and are focused and ready to go and on a mission — a mission not just to beat Northport but to finish the season strong in our last home game, and we’re so happy that we were able to do that tonight.”

Under dusky, autumnal skies splattered with orange cumulus clouds drifting in from the west, Roteli opened the scoring 11 minutes into the game when she tipped in a shot from linemate Olivia Comerford. The 1-0 Lady Pat lead would hold until halftime as Northport could not generate any offense over the first two periods — a spell they often cast upon their opposition and not the other way around. They mustered only one shot and one penalty corner.

However, at the start of the second half with dusk now fully surrendering to night, the Tigers would get a boost from not their offense but their goalkeeper, Mariselle Camillone. When a Ward Melville midfielder was brought down hard by Northport defender Caeley Monez inside Camillone’s cage, the Patriots were awarded a free penalty stroke. This occurs when the defense either commits a deliberate foul inside the attack zone or intentionally fouls inside the shooting circle, which prevents a goal from being scored.

From seven yards away, which is essentially point-blank range, Lady Patriot ace winger Peyton Phillips blasted a high shot at Camillone, who calmly turned it away with both of her oversized goalie gloves. The entire Northport team celebrated with their goalkeeper as if she had scored a goal. There was a sense that the Lady Tigers would use this stop to propel them to victory as they had done so many times before.

“I didn’t feel that much pressure,” Camillone said. “I have practiced penalty strokes many times before, but it was definitely a little nerve-wracking knowing that everybody’s eyes were on me.”

The stroke is converted into a goal 80% of the time in high school field hockey, but Northport head coach Gina Walling had every bit of faith that Camillone would be up to the task.

“That was a phenomenal job by Mariselle,” said Walling, who played against Sioss while attending Centereach High School in the late 1990s. “She has never faced a penalty stroke outside of practice, and although we didn’t win today, that save only helps us and Maiselle moving forward, giving her confidence as we start the postseason.”

Ah, yes, the playoffs. They start on Oct. 20. With the win, Ward Melville and Northport have identical 13-1 records and will almost certainly be seeded as the top two teams in the Suffolk County Division I postseason bracket. Sachem East is also 13-1, but they have a softer strength of schedule and will likely be seeded third.

For the regular season finale, Sioss awarded Stoecker, a junior, the postgame rubber chicken as the game’s most valuable player. When she scored in the final minute of the third quarter, it not only gave Ward Melville a two-goal lead but spiked any juice Northport may have squeezed out of Camillone’s heroics from earlier in the period.

“It really felt great scoring that goal,” said Stoecker, who enjoyed green-iced cupcakes as a postgame celebration with her teammates. “It really deflated them and boosted us. We needed this win heading into the playoffs, and it proves to ourselves that we can play with them and actually beat them.”

Northport team captain and senior defender Caitlin O’Malley was philosophical about the team’s first loss in 940 days.

“Obviously, it is a new feeling for us, and we’ve never had to bounce back from a loss, but it’s not going to affect how we go into the playoffs,” she said. “We are going to come back stronger, and this by no means ruins what Northport field hockey stands for. As captain of the team, my main goal will be to keep everyone’s head up, let them know that everything is going to be OK and that this one loss will not define us.”

O’Malley said she welcomes a chance to see the Lady Patriots again in the coming days.

“I really hope we get to see them in the playoffs to show them how we actually play,” she said. “I don’t think this game was a great representation of what we are capable of, and when the playoffs come, we will be more prepared and, hopefully, we will come out on top.”

And start a new chapter in the Northport field hockey history book? Time will tell.

For Ward Melville, however, it was one of the most satisfying page flips in the history of their program.