Girls’ Lax Notebook
And then there were none. The three local girls’ lax powers were done in last week: Class B
Brewster’s season was ended by down-county power Fox Lane, and an upstart Rockland County
newcomer – North Rockland — concluded Lakeland/Panas’ season in Class A. Former Class
B champion Yorktown suffered a semifinal loss at the hands of Brewster, ending the hopes of all three.
So the traditional powers that be; Coach Sharon Sarsen’s former five-time defending champion L/P Rebels and Coach Ellen Mager’s former champion Yorktown Huskers will have to wait till next year to reclaim the throne.
YORKTOWN
After beating John Jay 12-10 in the first playoff game Yorktown’s rollercoaster season came to an end with a 8-7 loss to Brewster in the Section 1 Class B semifinals last week.
The Huskers, who won the sectional championship last season, finished the year 8-10, but head coach Ellen Mager was impressed with the way her team battled in playoffs.
“They came out strong in playoffs, the win against John Jay was excellent,” Mager said. “We played Brewster very close on the road and if we got a break or two we could have won that game…we dug ourselves a hole with our play in the regular season, which got us a tough draw in the playoffs. You have to play every game during the regular season like it has meaning.”
With just four seniors,Yorktownwas very young and lacked experience this season, but Mager hopes the younger players can build on their 2012 performances.
“We had a lot of young kids who were on a varsity field for the first time and I’m hoping they’ve learned a lot and they’ll work hard to gain between now and next season so that the outcome will be a little better,” Mager said. “We run our own summer program…we really want them playing in the summer and you just want them to have a stick in their hand and work on individual skills while they can because without those skills it’s tough for the team to be successful.”
Seniors Bianca Raniolo, Heather Raniolo, Stefanie Ranagan, and Caitlin Frederick will graduate next month, and Mager says their presence will be missed.
“They all played very meaningful roles on our team,” Mager said. “We’re going to miss their experience and production. Those kids worked as hard as they could and did the best they could for the team and we wish them all the best of luck.”
BREWSTER
The Bears knocked out reigning sectional champion Yorktown at home last Tuesday 8-7 before University of North Carolina-bound Sammy Jo Tracy scored seven goals in top-seeded Fox Lane’s 11-9 overtime victory against No. 3 Brewster in Thursday’s Section 1 Class B final at Fox Lane.
Brewster was on a four game winning streak before running into Fox Lane and the Bears, who finished, 11-6-1 did not lose lost a game all season by more than four goals and four of their losses came by two goals or less.
Brewster’s Lily Lleshaj late in the second half, Tracy scored with 3:17 remaining to give the Foxes an 8-7 lead.
With under a minute remaining in regulation, Brewster’s Megan Yarusso netted the game-tying goal off a turnover that sent the game into overtime at 8-8. In overtime, Bear Liz Lleshaj scored off a put-back goal to tie the score at 9-9, but Fox Kailey O’Hagan sealed Brewster’s fate, scoring the game winner with 13 seconds left in the first of two mandatory overtimes.
Against Yorktown, Kristen Ohberg’s point-blank shot off an 8-meter free play with 21.1 seconds left gave Brewster an 8-7 win in a Section 1 Class B semifinal. Ohlberg took a feed from Elizabeth Lleshaj and Coach Gerry Walsh’s Bears won the ensuing faceoff and ran out the clock on Yorktown.
LAKELAND/PANAS
Lakeland-Panas’ (16-1-1) remarkable streak of five consecutive sectional championships came to an end Thursday when North Rockland (16-0-1) pulled off a 10-9 championship victory; knocking the state-ranked (No.10) Rebels out of the Class A playoffs.
State-ranked (No.13)North Rockland advanced to regional play and will face the Section 9 Kingston/Warwick champion Wednesday at a location and time to be determined.
Freshman Molly Fitzpatrick and senior Emma Bozek led the Rebels in the loss with three goals apiece. Amanda Vasta chipped in two goals and Alexa Bonnes had one for L/P, which allowed the Raiders a 4-0 head start.
Dan Curtis contributed to this article.
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
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