Lakeland Responds; Greeley Cruises; P’Ville, Put Valley Rule Class C

By Tony Pinciaro

It’s a huge accomplishment for an opponent to beat LAKELAND, considering the Hornets’ Section 1 Class B dominance starting in 2009.

Mamaroneck and John Jay-Cross River both beat Lakeland this season. In each case, the Hornets’ schedule presented them with the following game against a perennial Section 1-elite team. And each time, Lakeland responded.

Following the Mamaroneck game, Lakeland blanked Horace Greeley, 2-0, and after a 1-0 loss to the Wolves, the Hornets dominated Rye, 4-0.

The victory over Rye opened the week and Lakeland punctuated it with a 1-0 win over John Jay-Cross River as Gabby Santini finished off a penalty corner with five minutes remaining in the game.

Lakeland is 10-2 and would be seeded first if the Section 1 Class B Championships began today. The Hornets have four games remaining in the regular season having played at Somers (Monday) and traveling to Putnam Valley (Wednesday).

Senior and captain Keira Gallagher said the team learned from the two losses.

“I think, actually, the losses kind of woke us up,” said Gallagher, a four-year varsity starter. “We can’t be as comfortable and can’t expect to win all the time. It also got energized for the tough games. I also think it made us more hungry.”

The loss to John Jay-Cross River was especially frustrating because Gallagher said Lakeland had its scoring chances, but it came down to one word.

“They came to our field with energy and they were very determined to beat us,” Gallagher said. “We weren’t able to finish in front of the goal. They had one opportunity and they finished it.”

In the rematch, Lakeland, again, had a major advantage in penalty corners and this time Santini finished one.

“We had to get it done and we finally did,” Gallagher said.

Lakeland Coach Sharon Sarsen noticed an energized Hornets’ team.

“I was happy that my kids brought the energy the entire game,” she said. “I was happy that they didn’t get frustrated, but kept their composure as they continued to plug away and tried to score. I was impressed that they were able to handle the physicality of John Jay.”

Lakeland opened the week with a 4-0 triumph of Rye as Santini had a hat trick and Gianna Santini collected two assists. Victoria Myniv also scored and Riley Waters added an assist.

YORKTOWN had an offensive eruption with a pair of 9-1 wins, over Brewster and Ossining.

The Cornhuskers are 8-2 and will play Horace Greeley (one of their two losses) and White Plains, this week.

Yorktown has been on a roll since the Horace Greeley defeat.

“The loss to Horace Greeley made us realize what we needed to work on for future games,” said senior and captain Brie Gaccino. “Our defense has been working really hard in communicating and to avoid our opponents from scoring, as well.”

Lily Diaz and Gaccino each had a hat trick against Brewster. Riley Grieve added two goals and Olivia Flaim closed out the scoring.

Kaitlyn Sayegh scored for BREWSTER.

Serena Zimmerman had her first varsity hat trick and also finished with an assist against Ossining. Dana DeCourcey and Grieve had two goals apiece, Norah Guss collected a goal and an assist, Gaccino had a goal and Issi Bevilacquz and Flaim registered assists.

Kayla Botella-White had the OSSINING goal.

Gaccino said the team has addressed the necessary adjustments off the first Horace Greeley game along with some fine-tuning.

“We have put in so much work at practices and making sure we do the little things right in order to succeed, which has helped us to become better as a team, overall,” Gaccino said.

HORACE GREELEY had a clean week, shutting out Clarkstown (7-0) and archrival Fox Lane (4-0), improving to 8-2 this season.

Lilah Tainsky registered her first varsity hat trick and Sienna Tavolacci added two goals. Kate Paskowitz and Luisa Vieira also tallied goals. Eve Rutman had a goal and assisted on two others against Fox Lane. Nina Byrne, Phoebe Warshaw and Tavolacci added goals and Nicole Wayne and Tainsky finished with assists.

MAHOPAC continued its fine play under first-year coach Jess Ascencao as the Wolf Pac spoiled Brewster’s Pink Game with a 6-0 victory.

The Wolf Pac are 6-4-1 and have assured themselves of a return trip to sectionals after not qualifying last year.

“Coming off last season where wins were rare to now beating teams by such large margins it’s a change everyone on the team is really happy to see,” said senior and captain Erin Harney. “Brewster was our most dominant game yet. Everyone was where they needed to be on the field and that helped contribute to how offensive the game was. Getting a 6-0 win in our first league game of the season has us really hyped up for what’s about to come. And, if we keep this momentum up, I think we’re going to keep improving with each game.”

Sophia Perillo and Harney each scored twice, Anastasia Villani contributed a goal and an assist and Megan Malone had a goal.

FOX LANE split two games, a 3-2 overtime win against Ursuline, and a 4-0 loss to archrival Horace Greeley. Samantha Reder had Fox Lane’s goals against Ursuline and Emily Kalarchian and Zoe Stonecipher collected assists.

PLEASANTVILLE opened the week with a 10-0 win over Byram Hills before dropping a 3-0 verdict to Ursuline as the Koalas were coming off an overtime loss.

Abbey Gordon had a hand in eight Panthers’ goals – three goals and five assists. Ashley Vamossy and Clare Collins each scored twice. Penelope Ward, Sadie Rosengarden and Ella McCourtney also netted goals.

PUTNAM VALLEY went up two steps to play Class A RCK and the Dutchess County school held off the Tigers, 4-3. Naomi Gabay, Lilly Cottrell and Leah Harman had goals and assists went to Julia Toth and Eliza Osmanaj as the Tigers (8-2) lost for just the second time this season while remaining among the top three teams in Class C with Pleasantville and Pawling in the hunt.

CROTON received two goals from Frankie Slippen and an assist from Molly Rittenger in a 3-2 overtime loss to Valhalla. Filomena DiMarco made 13 saves for the Tigers.

The following schools did not respond to emails for information: BREWSTER, CARMEL, SOMERS, HEN HUD, WHITE PLAINS, VALHALLA and BYRAM HILLS.

ANDY JACOBS/TONY HUMBERTO PHOTOS