SPORTS | THE NORTHPORT RECORD, JUNE 7, 2007

Girls’ Lacrosse » Ward Melville 11, Northport 7

Lady Tigers Believe ’til the Bitter End

By Michael R. Sisak / The Northport Record

The Northport players broke from the huddle near the end of the timeout following the third straight second-half goal for Ward Melville, last Wednesday night, and chanted the same familiar motto that had come to define their run through the Suffolk County Class A playoffs.

“1-2-3 believe!” they roared, hoisting their sticks and clanging them together before returning to the field with 8:26 left in the county championship game at Stony Brook University, an eventual 11-7 loss.

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The top-seeded Lady Tigers, who had been so dominant in playoff wins over Sachem East (10-4 in the quarterfinals) and last year’s finalist Bay Shore (15-6 in the semifinals), trailed No. 2 Ward Melville 9-6.

Two minutes after the timeout, senior Debra Dale curled behind the Lady Patriots’ net and fed sophomore Devon Rhodes, whose quick flick from a few feet out cut the Lady Tigers’ deficit to 9-7, the same two-goal gap they faced at halftime before rallying with a pair of scores in a 50-second span to momentarily tie the game at 6-6.

For a moment, it seemed the Lady Tigers had again emerged from the lethargy and imprecision that had plagued them for most of the first half and were beginning a new rally – a last blaze of offense to secure the ninth county championship in school history.

Hope faded on the next draw.

Ward Melville, which had been so strong on face offs throughout the game, controlled another. The Lady Patriots held possession for more than two minutes, methodically passing across the Northport defensive zone before giving to Makenzie Hommel. Hommel, a sophomore attacker, drove to the net, squeezed between the Lady Tigers’ defenders Christine Smith and Katie Ciaci and placed a shot between the goaltender Laurie Filippone and the left post.

“We had our opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of them,” Northport coach Carol Rose said after the game. “What little opportunities we had. I felt like we were on defense the whole time.”

On the Northport sideline, it became hard to keep the faith. Players slunk their shoulders and sunk their heads, some staring at their feet and the synthetic grass field below.

In the stands directly behind the bench, the most vociferous Northport fans volleyed their frustrations at the game officials, whom they felt had been too relaxed in penalizing Ward Melville players, particularly Notre Dame-bound senior attacker Shaylyn Blaney who continually bumped and slashed at Lady Tigers’ shooters.

Junior Nina Sarcona, who emerged as a scoring force for Northport following the graduation of seven senior starters from last year’s squad, fought through the physicality to score the first of the back-to-back goals that tied the game at 6-6 with 17 minutes remaining. Dale passed to Sarcona from near the right post. The shot zipped past the stick of the Lady Patriots’ freshman goaltender Jen Walsh, a first-year player who has matured into a steely stopped since her first encounter with Northport, last month. The Lady Tigers won 17-10.

“We made some major adjustments in terms of how we played them,” Ward Meville coach Erin Blaney, Shaylyn’s mother, said. “After that first game we felt we were a little off and we knew we didn’t play at the level we could have. Northport is always an excellent team and we come in here respecting them whenever we play them, but I think it was a matter of playing with our heart today, playing with a lot of passion.”

In the rematch at the county championship game, Walsh held the Lady Tigers to a single goal over the first 19 minutes — Rhodes’ opening salvo for a 1-0 lead with 19:34 left in the period. The Lady Tigers trimmed a 4-1 deficit with a midfield steal by senior Ashley Boccio that led to an odd-man strike by classmate Francesca Volpe with 5:53 left before the half. They added another on a free position shot by Dale 3.7 seconds ahead of the break.

The Lady Tigers and the Lady Patriots exchanged goals to open the second half. Then, Sarcona tallied to bring the Lady Tigers within 1 and Rhodes hit 49 seconds later off a feed from Lacey Vigmostad to tie the game at 6-6.

Shaylyn Blaney provided a pair of answers in the next four minutes. Shaylyn charged straight in on Filippone to put the Lady Patriots ahead 7-6 and pumped high then tossed low to increase the edge to 8-6, en route to her school’s first title since 1993.

The Lady Tigers, who celebrated on the same field last year after beating Bay Shore for the county title on a last-minute goal by Rhodes, were left in tears as Blaney, her family and teammates celebrated.

“We set out to play like a team, to be unselfish and to support each other,” Erin Blaney said, echoing the philosophy that Northport employed during the regular season and earlier in the playoffs. “We did an excellent job of that.”