Girl’s LAX Notebook

Youthful Hen Hud Hoping to Contend for Class C Crown

By Tony Pinciaro

When the HEN HUD girls’ lacrosse team first viewed its 2018 schedule, the girls were a bit nervous and apprehensive.

Hen Hud would open the season with five consecutive road games and the schedule was chock full of high-caliber competition, highlighted by perennial sectional powers Suffern, Yorktown and Somers, just to name a few.

Following preseason, senior G Mackenzie Porter and her teammates embraced their difficult schedule.

“We were kind of nervous, having never played Suffern or Yorktown, but we started to realize that we have so much potential that we started to feel comfortable and the first few games were not as scary as they were when the schedule first came out,” said Porter, who will attend Rutgers in the fall and continue with lacrosse. “We feel we have a good team this year and this tough schedule is challenging us, making us and making our program even better.”

Hen Hud bested Suffern, 12-8, in its second game of the season and is currently 5-5 after the difficult road stretch. Looks can be deceiving when it comes to the Sailors’ record. They lost to Yorktown and Lakeland/Panas, 8-7, and Somers beat Hen Hud, 8-6.

Class C Hen Hud rebounded to hand Byram Hills its first loss of the season, 15-8, and held off Brewster, 7-6.

“Getting that win against Suffern was an amazing experience,” Porter said. “Going into the game we knew we could compete with teams that won sectionals and playing for a state title.”

No team likes to lose and coaches and players will always say there are no moral victories in a loss, but Porter felt otherwise. The two one-goal losses and two-goal loss were an eye-opener.

“Those were hard, but they taught us a lot, especially in the Brewster game,” Porter said. “We knew we had to keep pushing ourselves throughout the game until the clock said 0.0. We learned from the losses and bettered ourselves.”

Hen Hud has six games remaining before the Section 1 Class C Championships. The Sailors have an eye on returning to the sectional final, however, with a different result this year.

PUTNAM VALLEY continued its excellent play in the first half of this season, cruising to a 14-1 victory over Pawling. The Class D Tigers are now 6-1 on the season.

Maddie Deegan led the Tigers with a hat trick while Emma Rippon, Danielle Cunningham, Jackie Phillips and Lindsay Cohen all chipped in with two goals apiece. Kaitlin Cohen and Rippon each recorded two assists. Catherine Mazza, Lily Claire Gesson and Jessica Denike also had goals and

Kimberly Hyndman stopped five shots.

“Our win was a full team effort,” Putnam Valley Coach Courtney Hyndman said. “Everyone got a touch on the ball and a chance to score. We really practiced our ball movement on attack and off-ball movement, as well.”

LAKELAND/PANAS overcame Somers, 8-6, improving to 6-2

Kelsey McCrudden scored twice and added an assist and Megan Mucci also had two goals. Jenna McCrudden (who also had an assist), Keirra Ettere, Emily Kness and Raquel Nieves also scored for the Rebels.

Somers received two goals apiece from Hannah Lustig and Ella Kittredge, Jen Campbell added a goal and two assists.

MAHOPAC split two games, dropping a 12-9 decision to North Rockland, but rebounded with a 9-7 victory over archrival Carmel.

Caroline Raymond and Sophia DeFrancesco each had a hat trick and Lindsay Neilis added a goal and two assists for the Indians (5-4). Goalie Jordan Barbagallo made 11 saves.

Mahopac matched North Rockland in goals in the second half, seven, but the Red Raiders had a 5-2 at halftime.

“I think we took a big step forward, showing ourselves that we can hang with a great team like North Rockland,” Mahopac Coach Jim Lieto said. “North Rockland played an extremely strong first half where they possessed the ball for a long time. We had a difficult time creating offensive opportunities in the first half, but I like the fact that we were able to create more in the second half.”

DeFrancesco led the ‘Pac with five goals and Natalie Scanlon finished with one goal and one assist. Caitlin Reilly, and Neilis also had goals.

BREWSTER Coach Sara DiDio called it a ‘tough week’ for her girls as the Bears (6-3) lost to Hen Hud, 7-6, and Fox Lane, 10-8.

“We played two tough teams in close games,” DiDio said. “Hen Hud was a physical game and my girls fought hard. Our defense really stepped it up and worked together and our attack had some good opportunities.

“Against Fox Lane, we had a great first half and going into halftime we were up 7-5. We were only able to score one goal in the second half and some turnovers caused the momentum to change. Fox Lane controlled the draw, but we continued to fight until the end.”

Lauren Craft, Meagan Beal and Maggie DePaoli each had two goals against Hen Hud. Goalie Danielle Heintz made 12 saves.

Craft netted a hat trick against Fox Lane, Marina Souza had two goals and Dani Regan and Beal had one goal and one assist apiece.