Underclassmen spark East Meadow

It’s safe to say the East Meadow Lady Jets are already an improved lacrosse team from last year.

With triumphs over Elmont in the season opener and at Holy Trinity on March 28, East Meadow has already matched its entire win total from 2017, a season that began with three straight losses. Victories could be even more commonplace this spring with two freshmen leading the way offensively and a goaltender that has kept the team in games.

The losing mentality from last season began to erode under first-year coach Kara Fiorillo, who met with each player during tryouts to assess what went wrong a year ago and how it could be fixed. There seemed to be one common denominator during those discussions.

“That was definitely one thing that was brought up, that there was a lack of a team unity, the girls working together on and off the field, so that’s definitely something we’ve been trying to focus on,” Fiorillo said. “I think that has been helpful so far.”

The emergence of midfielder Carly Howell and fellow freshman and attacker Emma Terino has also been helpful. Howell had a three-goal game against Elmont on March 20 and added four against Holy Trinity, while Terino whipped in four of her six tallies this season in a 10-9 loss to Mepham on March 26.

Howell has impressed Fiorillo not only with her team-leading eight goals on the season, but her ability to play a strong game at both ends of the field and transition the ball to the forwards on the rush.

“Carly is a great, coachable girl with a really positive attitude,” Fiorillo said. “She’s a huge hustler on the field. You never see her slowing down and trying to take a break.”

Like Howell, Terino has displayed strong stick skills and is a presence on the field. 

“Emma is our strong attacker,” Fiorillo said. “She also gets a lot of draw controls for us, which is huge.”

Another future building block is sophomore midfielder Mary Fitzsimmons, who has scored in each of the three games this season and has four total goals. The Lady Jets are also getting good production thus far from attackers Lexi Dolan, Hailey Dazzo and Jenna Stankes and sophomore midfielder Stephanie Sparkowski.

The experienced defensive corps consists of seniors Vittora Fuduli, Celina Lo and Rachel Ninesling and sophomore Samantha Pota. Fiorillo credited the group for their strong communication skills on the field, making adjustments as the game goes along and trying to improve each game.

“Rachel and Vittoria have stepped us for us,” Fiorillo said. “They’re doing a fantastic job of really trying to dig in and figure out where we are lacking in defense and making the improvements on every play.”

Sophomore Jenna Balsamo has made 29 saves in her three games in goal. She had 16 stops against Holy Trinity and her strong play in the first half resulted in the Lady Jets trailing by only a 2-1 score at the break.