SPORTS | THE NORTHPORT RECORD, MAY 24, 2007

Top-Seeded Lady Tigers
Believe in Teamwork

By Michael R. Sisak / The Northport Record

Seven letters etched in silver spelled top-seeded Northport’s philosophy on the eve of the postseason, Monday afternoon.

Believe.

The Lady Tigers’ six senior captains presented necklaces bearing the one-word mantra to each member of the team, including the coaches Carol and Al Rose, at the end of the final practice before their playoff opener — a Class A quarterfinal against No. 8 Sachem East on Tuesday (after the deadline for this issue). The Lady Tigers defeated Sachem East 16-9 in the final game of the regular season, last Thursday.

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“It’s believe in yourself,” Carol Rose explained. “Have confidence in your ability, have confidence in your teammates, and believe that you can achieve anything.”

The Lady Tigers huddled together after the seniors’ presentation, wearing their newly acquired silver ring and black string necklaces. They hoisted their sticks into the air and chanted their succinct creed.

Believe.

The Lady Tigers, the winners of eight county championships and three Long Island titles since 1990, earned the top-seed in this year’s playoffs with a dominant regular season run that began with defensively-oriented, low-scoring wins and ended, after the emergence of several new scorers, with a string of lop-sided victories. They toppled perennial Class B power Garden City in a non-league game 8-6 on April 22 and lost their only league game, 12-10 to North Babylon on May 3. Since then, the Lady Tigers outscored their last four opponents by a combined total of 69-23.

“It’s about whoever’s open at that given time,” Carol Rose said of her offense, which differs from two seasons ago when Jillian Byers, now at Notre Dame, was the focus, and last season, when Corrine Gandolfi, now at Hofstra, dominated the scoring. “We don’t call specific plays for anybody. It’s just whoever’s there.”

Of the 15 different Lady Tigers who have scored this season, sophomore Devon Rhodes, junior Nina Sarcona and senior Debra Dale have been there the most. Rhodes led the team in scoring in the regular season with 44 goals. Dale, the tough, second-year transfer from Sachem, scored 35 times. Sarcona, a first-year starter, tallied 30 goals.

“Throughout the season we’ve been working everybody in a little bit,” Rhodes said. “You really get to know how everybody works, how everyone flows.”

Rhodes scored a career-high five goals in a 19-3 win over Commack on April 11. She repeated the feat in a 19-2 win against Connetquot on May 5.

Last season, as a freshman on a team led by seniors Gandolfi, Sam Strebel and Meghan Markowski, she scored twice against Bay Shore in the Suffolk County Class A championship game, including the game-winner with 46.4 seconds left.

This season, following the graduation of seven seniors, including Gandolfi, Strebel and Markowski, the Lady Tigers have traded star power for teamwork. Instead of deferring to one of a select group of players for a goal or a defensive stop in a pressure situation, the Lady Tigers feel that anyone can make the difference.

“This year, we have so much more potential,” Rhodes said. “You could pick anyone off the bench and they’re ready to go.”

Believe.

Sarcona watched most of last season’s county-title run from the sideline, but this year has been the deciding factor in several games. She scored her third goal with 2:59 to give the Lady Tigers a 9-8 win over East Islip on April 23. She had a pair of goals in the triumph over Garden City, that team’s first loss since the 2005 state final, including the go-ahead score four minutes into the second half. And, she fired the game-winner in a 5-4 thriller against West Babylon on April 13.

“I think confidence is a big part of it,” Sarcona said. “Everybody picks each other up. The team aspect is a big part of it. If you make a mistake, it’s just shrugged off and everybody pats you on the back like you did a good job, and makes you feel fine.”

In addition to her scoring ability, Dale has earned the nicknames “Debra-dozer” and “Dozer-Deb” because of her fierce style and the way she has been known to bulldoze her way through opposing players.

“After watching all the films, we see that we’re the most dominant players,” Sarcona said, turning to Dale as they stood at the edge of their game field after practice on Monday. “I mean we just run over girls.”

During the practice session, seven former Lady Tigers returned to form an all-star style alumni squad that competed against the current team’s first-line defense. The squad — comprised of Gandolfi, Strebel (Stony Brook), Markowski (Brown), Whitney Ahern (Villanova), Jillian Howley (Robert Morris), Keri Schumacher (the current freshman coach) and Kelly Dunne (a first-year player on the basketball team Nazareth) — scored just one goal on the current Lady Tigers.

“It was amazing to see our defense shut them down,” Sarcona said. “If we can hold them, we can hold anybody.”

Believe.