By Bill Landon
Sophie Alois led the way for Middle Country finding the back of the cage eight times in a nonleague matchup on the road defeating Hauppauge, 15-10, April 22.
Eighth-grader Kate Timarky stretched the net for five goals along with two assists, and teammates Jennifer Barry, who is Boston University bound, and Sydney Juvelier, who will play for Pace University, each scored a goal.
As of April 24, the Mad Dogs were 8-1 overall just behind Northport who sits at the top of Division I.
By Bill Landon
The Harborfields Tornadoes’ girls lacrosse team had a difficult time against visiting Sayville April 9, losing the game 4-5.
The loss puts Harborfields at 3-4 in league and 4-5 overall. The Tornadoes will host West Islip April 17 with a game time set for 4 p.m.
By Bill Landon
The Commack Cougars girls lacrosse team stayed with Middle Country trading goals for an 8-8 tie at the half, but the Mad Dogs stretched their legs in the final period to surge ahead for a 17-12 road win April 4. After the game, the Mad Dogs remained unbeaten at 4-0 in Division I trailing Northport and Riverhead, but then beat Riverhead, 11-10, April 6 to head the table.
Middle Country senior midfielder Sophie Alois led the way for the Mad Dogs notching five goals and four assists. Eighth-grader Kate Timarky split the pipes three times with a pair of assists, while senior goalie Elizabeth Pomaro had five saves on the day.
Commack senior Katie Kelly found the back of the net four times for the Cougars with three assists and teammate Sam Pugh had an assist and stretched the net three times. Senior keeper Cat Deutsch had eight saves in net. The loss dropped Commack to 2-3 in the division, 4-3 overall.
By Bill Landon
After the Ward Melville girls lacrosse team dominated the first half of the game outscoring Smithtown East by eight goals, the Bulls regrouped for the second half and drew within four goals twice before the Patriots dropped the hammer to put the game away, 17-12, at home March 29.
Ward Melville senior Courtney Carollo led the way with four goals and three assists, 10th grader Summer Agostino, followed with three goals and two assists, and senior Lexi Reinhardt had an assist and found the cage four times. Also pictured above center, two Patriots celebrate a score against the Bulls.
Smithtown East senior midfielder Gabrielle Schneider topped the charts for the Bulls with three assists and two goals, sophomore Alayna Costa split the pipes four times, and her older sister Isabella Costa had two assists and two goals.
As of April 1, the win puts the Patriots at 1-1, and the loss drops Smithtown East 2-1 in Division I.
By Bill Landon
Smithtown West’s girls lacrosse had the upper hand in the first half March 21 as Huntington was unable to overcome a deficit in the final 25 minutes of play. The Bulls notched their first league victory of the early season downing the Blue Devils 10-4 on the road.
Senior Regan Kielmeyer led the way in scoring for Smithtown West with a pair of goals and five assists with teammates and fellow seniors Lauren Coletti and Taylor Mennella netting three goals each.
On the Blue Devils’ side, junior Abby Malchin, senior Maire Brown, senior Paige Lennon and sophomore Charlotte Maggio each scored a goal apiece for Huntington.
The Huntington girls lacrosse team is took the ield again at home against Farmingdale March 25, and will soon take be taking the long road to Riverhead March 29. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
By Bill Landon
The Panthers of Miller Place stayed with Sachem East’s girls lacrosse team goal for goal most of the way, but the Flaming Arrows had one more left with three minutes left in the game to edge ahead by one.
The Panthers were unable to answer, falling 6-5 in a nonleague matchup on the road March 23.
Juniors Madison Murphy and Lauren Mancini led Miller Place in scoring with two goals each. Senior Ava Burns scored a goal with one assist while sophomore goaltender Chloe Anthony had five saves.
The loss drops Miller Place to 0-1 in league and 1-2 overall. The Panthers were back in action March 27 when they hosted Comsewogue and lost 18-1.
This post was edited to include correct photos.
Despite being down six goals at halftime, junior Emma Tyrrell said she kept repeating to herself: “we couldn’t just give up.”
Scoring five goals in four minutes, Mount Sinai’s girls lacrosse team mounted a comeback that turned a 9-3 deficit into an eventual 12-12 tie, but a Cold Spring Harbor goal late in the second period of sudden-death overtime knocked the Mustangs out of the playoffs in the Long Island Class C championship game at Islip High School June 3.
Knowing it was now or never, Tyrrell made a highlight-reel play when she raced past the right side of the cage and scored a behind-the-back shot that started the string of goals. She said it was a play she’d been practicing putting into effect all season.
“I had no idea I was going to do it, until it just happened,” she said. “The funny thing is that just before the game started [coach Al Bertolone] told me that he finally trusts me to take that shot. So when the time came, I had the confidence.”
She scored twice in two minutes, which bookended a Camryn Harloff goal. Both of Tyrell’s scores started with sophomore Jenny Markey (one goal, four assists) winning possession off the draw.
“We were finally getting the momentum to get back at them and be the better team,” Markey said. “I was nervous on the draw, but ready. I knew what the girl guarding me was looking to do, but once I started getting the hang of it I got more comfortable as the game went on.”
She earned more possession time on the next two faceoffs, which led to her scoring a free position goal and passing to Harloff (three goals, one assist) for a good goal on her second to pull Mount Sinai within one, 9-8, with 16:11 left in regulation.
Markey said seeing Tyrrell’s goal fueled her team’s fire.
“It got everyone going,” she said. “After that goal, the whole feeling changed.”
For a team that usually doesn’t celebrate after scoring, the girls lit up, shouting and jumping toward one another. Senior Meaghan Tyrrell (five goals, one assist), Emma’s older sister, said her heart skipped a beat with each goal scored. Fittingly, the team’s top offensive threat tallied the first two and final three goals of the game. She scooped up a ground ball in the eight-minute mark and forced a turnover with a stick check at the six-minute mark. Both moves led to her last two game-tying goals in what became a back-and-forth battle.
“Knowing how important each goal was to determine the rest of our season made us more excited,” she said. “With every one that went in that celebration had to be done at a more extreme level. Our team’s resiliency is unlike any other team I’ve ever seen before. Seeing our team perform how it did to get back into the game was astounding, and I’m so proud to be associated with that kind of team.”
Losing seven seniors to graduation, Emma Tyrell said the remaining players will use the loss as motivation to make the push next year.
“As sad as it is moving on from this season, I’m excited to start preparing,” she said. “Since the beginning our team has been all about hard work and grit — that was definitely shown in the second half of the game. We never have, and we never will give up.”
Meaghan Tyrrell has put the team on her back before.
With Mount Sinai down 5-4 at halftime, Tyrrell lifted her stick high above her head and sent her shot over visiting Rocky Point’s goalkeeper for the go-ahead goal, her second straight to start the second half, in the Mustangs 6-5 Class C semifinal win May 22.
As she pulled down her arms, with them, the weight came crashing down.
“Being down is always a stressful situation. We needed to remain composed. We knew each draw counted. Once the opportunity presented itself, I took it.”
— Meaghan Tyrrell
“Relief,” the Syracuse University-bound senior said of how she felt following the score. “Being down is always a stressful situation. We needed to remain composed. We knew each draw counted. Once the opportunity presented itself, I took it. I knew this was where our momentum would build.”
Senior Gabby Sartori scored on a free position goal to put Mount Sinai ahead 6-4. Tyrrell won six draw controls and Morgan Mitchell (one goal, two assists) won three.
Mitchell, a junior, is following in the footsteps of Kasey, her older sister, who just finished her freshman year on the No. 1-ranked Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team.
“I kept working and working, and my sister helped tremendously,” Morgan Mitchell said. “I felt comfortable, I changed things up — push and then pull to myself.”
She didn’t start the season at the draw circle after banging her knee and missing scrimmages, but she’s been impressing others.
“She’s one of the brightest spots this season so far,” head coach Al Bertolone said. “She’s done a tremendous job all season. Since we got her back it’s been full steam ahead.”
Mitchell was working hard in the first half, scoring the first goal and assisting on the next two as Mount Sinai went up 3-0 early. Senior Meaghan Scutaro made back-to-back stops on defense to keep Rocky Point at bay.
“It gets our momentum going when defense gets good stops like that,” she said. “We were looking to take away their key players — Maddy Sanchez, Bri Lamoureux, Christina Bellisimo — take their midfield out
of the game, but it became a really tight one.”
“It’s a boarder war. One thing about intensity is you have to match it.”
— Al Bertolone
Bellisimo (three goals, one assist) scored twice, once with the help of Sanchez, and assisted on another during the Eagles’ four-score streak that put them up 4-3 at halftime. Mount Sinai, which turned the ball over 10 times, made most of its errors in the first half.
“It’s a boarder war,” Bertolone said. “One thing about intensity is you have to match it. We started off great but we let them back into it and we had to try to get what we wanted to do going. We weren’t smart with the ball in the first half, but in the second half we were smarter.”
The head coach said it was a good test as the team enters the Suffolk County Class C title game against No. 3 Westhampton May 31 at Hauppauge High School at 3 p.m.
“It was a wet, sloppy day, but you have to win on a day like today if you want to win a championship,” Bertolone said. “Our program, our tradition has put us in position. We’re right there.”
By Bill Landon
Middle Country’s girls lacrosse team came up short at the buzzer in a Class A quarterfinal game that saw nine lead changes. No. 5-seeded Riverhead’s defense held down the fort in the final 30 seconds against the No. 4 Mad Dogs to pull away with a 13-12 win.
“It was a tough one today,” Middle Country head coach Lindsay Dolson said. “We made some mistakes that we didn’t need to make.”
Down 6-4 at halftime, Middle Country junior Sophie Alois scored her third goal of the game to make it a new one, knotting the score at 6-all three minutes into the second half. After a Riverhead goal, Middle Country senior Emily Diaz dished the ball to Alois, and then to senior Sydney Juvelier 35 seconds later to help the Mad Dogs retake the lead.
The Blue Waves tied it up again before Middle Country did in return, and Diaz scored on a penalty shot with 14:07 remaining to give the Mad Dogs what would be their final lead of the game.
Riverhead rattled off four unanswered goals to take a 12-9 lead and ran crucial seconds off the clock by stalling until the four-minute mark.
With 3:37 left in regulation, Alois split the pipes unassisted and scored her fifth goal of the game a minute later off a feed from junior Jennifer Barry. Middle Country won the ensuing draw and this time, it was the seventh-grader Kate Timarky who wouldn’t be denied, as her solo shot found the back of the net to retie the game, 12-12, with a minute-and-a-half left in regulation.
After a shot on goal by the Blue Waves, controversy ensued and the game’s three officials conferenced on the field. After a minute of deliberation, the trio ruled it a good goal and Riverhead retook the lead 13-12 with 30 seconds left.
Middle Country won the final draw and called timeout with 22 seconds remaining as the Mad Dogs planned their final shot, but failed to get the ball near the cage as time expired.
It was a stinging defeat for the defending Long Island champions.
“When we were down by three we didn’t panic — we have plans for that, and we finished with good draw controls and were able to [retie the game],” Dolson said. “I thanked the seniors for their hard work their dedication — they will be greatly missed and we wish them good luck next year.”
By Bill Landon
Comsewogue almost called it a comeback. The girls lacrosse team trimmed a four-goal deficit to one in the final minutes of a first-round Class B playoff game against visiting East Islip May 18, and despite winning possession on the final draw with 20 seconds left, the Warriors failed to find the net, falling 9-8.
“We have awesome players with amazing speed — our seniors Hannah [Dorney] and Brianna [Blatter] stepped up, they played a hell of a game,” Comsewogue head coach Jaqueline Wilkom said. “We had to win that draw and push it down toward the net at the end, but unfortunately the game didn’t end in our favor.”
Dorney, a University of Notre Dame-bound senior, won possession and Comsewogue called timeout with 20 seconds on the clock. With time for one last shot, the Warriors turned the ball over and the Redmen recovered and let the clock run down.
“We’re very young — we have five middle-schoolers and only four seniors,” Dorney said. “We had two key players out for most of the year, so for a while we were a little lost.”
The senior, who came into the game second among Suffolk County scorers with 85 points, four behind Northport’s Olivia Carner, found the net four times and assisted on a goal in her final Comsewogue lacrosse game. She finished the first half with a hat trick, scoring twice on penalty shots and once off an assist from junior attack Julia Fernandes. Her third goal closed the gap to one, 4-3, and even with No. 5-seeded East Islip countering with two goals in just over a minute’s time, No. 4 Comsewogue came back to keep the deficit the same, with the Warriors down 6-5 at the halftime break.
After the Redmen tallied two more scores to start the second, a Comsewogue penalty put the Warriors at even more of a disadvantage, as East Islip capitalized on the opportunity to go up 9-5. Sophomore Olivia Fantigrossi scored her second goal, freshman Nelida Watson assisted Fernandes’ second and Dorney scored on another penalty shot to give the game its final score with 29 seconds left.
“We pump each other up from the sidelines, and our bonding in practice is what helped us get this far,” Dorney said. “We’re a family.”
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