SPORTS | THE NORTHPORT RECORD, MAY 17, 2007

Northport’s Gandolfi Emerges With Pride

By Michael R. Sisak / The Northport Record

Corrine Gandolfi turned away from the net, pumping a fist and hoisting her stick, after scoring the first goal for Hofstra in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, last Sunday against No. 7-seeded Johns Hopkins.

She looked to the sky and caught a glimpse of the sparse crowd in the stands at Shuart Stadium on the Hofstra campus in Hempstead — a contingent that included her family, friends and former Northport High School teammates.

“Just having my family close and my friends come and watch me play, that support is just nice to have,” Gandolfi said after the game, a 12-8 loss.

Gandolfi, a freshman attacker finished with a pair of goals and an assist. Her first score launched a 3-0 Hofstra run, but Hopkins rallied with a six-goal spree over a 21-minute span en route to a 6-4 halftime lead. Gandolfi scored again, two minutes into the second half to cut the Pride’s deficit to one.

Hopkins’ Mary Key, who in second in the nation with a 6.17 goals per game scoring average, tallied four assists and a goal in the final 17 minutes as the Blue Jays pulled to a four-goal edge.

The Pride (6-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association, 12-6 overall) hosted the conference tournament, last week, and needed dramatic wins in the semifinals and championship round to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Gandolfi had two goals, including the game-winner with eight seconds left, as the Pride rallied from a 9-6 deficit to defeat Old Dominion 10-9 in the conference semifinal. She scored five times in the Pride’s 15-13 conference final win over James Madison. Gandolfi, a CAA All-Rookie team selection, earned player of the week honors from Inside Lacrosse magazine.

“She’s only in her first season with the Pride, but you would never know it by her performance,” the magazine said on its website, insidelacrosse.com.

The Pride received home field advantage in the NCAA Tournament (though they were considered the visiting team and wore their dark blue, road uniforms) because the Johns Hopkins’ highly ranked men’s team already had a game scheduled on the school’s home field in Baltimore.

“No one expected us to be where we were today,” Gandolfi said. “We were on a winning streak and we were on our own role and I just think we had nothing to lose. To be scared of another team is just a waste of a game.”

Gandolfi, a 2006 Northport graduate, earned all-county honors as a member of the county champion basketball and lacrosse teams. Her brothers, Frank (a 2005 graduate) and Chris, a senior at the high school, were both top wrestlers. Both were in the stands, last Sunday.

Northport coaches Carol and Al Rose and Gandolfi’s former teammates Kelly Dunne, Jillian Howley and Ali Fourney were there, as well.

“[Corrine is] Michael Jordan with a lacrosse stick,” Rose said.

Gandolfi played in all of Hofstra’s games this season and emerged as a starter in early April, giving first-year coach Abby Morgan a quick, talented offensive threat to complement the senior trio of Becky Thorn (Holbrook), Kim Hillier (Farmingdale), and Casey McGrath (Kings Park). Gandolfi finished the season with 24 goals on 51 shots.