Long Beach seeks playoff run

Unlike last year when Long Beach rode the momentum of a three-game winning streak into the Nassau Class B girls’ lacrosse playoffs and extended it to five to reach the county finals, the Lady Marines are treading water with the postseason about to begin.

“We didn’t have a bad showing in any of the last three games and we’re going into the playoffs with our heads up,” coach Rachel Ray said after Long Beach’s slide hit three games after a 6-4 loss at Port Washington on Monday. “We’re staying positive and I think these last three games have motivated the girls even more,”she added.

Sophomore Maggie Reznick scored three goals, giving her 22 on the year, and junior Jillian Canner also found the net in the loss. The Lady Marines trailed 4-1 at halftime. “I felt like we never got off the bus,” Ray said. “It was Port’s senior day and they came out really hungry. We came alive in the second half and played better, but it was just a little too late.”

It was Long Beach’s second straight full game without major contributors Daisy Willard and Lexie Correia. Both went down with injuries early in the second half of an 8-3 defeat against Massapequa on May 3. Willard, a four-year starter, the team’s best one-on-one defender and an All-County candidate, Ray said, is out for the season and will undergo surgery for a torn ACL. “She fell hard on her knee right in front of our bench,” Ray said. “It was tough to see and we’re going to miss her.”

Correia left that game prior to Willard with a shin injury, though it’s not considered as serious. Ray expects the midfielder to return for the playoff opener on May 16. “Lexie is one of our key veterans and very important on the draws and both ends of the field,” said Ray, who used junior Hannah Lewis and recent call-up Keira Bauer, a seventh-grader, on the majority of faceoffs with Correia (20 goals) unavailable at Port or for last Saturday’s 7-5 non-league loss to Sacred Heart.

Correia and Canner (19 goals, 14 assists) had hat tricks, Lewis had three assists and Bauer scored her first varsity goal April 30 as the Lady Marines defeated South Side, 12-9. They led by seven at halftime. “It was our senior day and the girls executed everything asked of them,” Ray said. “A lot of kids got playing time and it was a quality win. South Side has a bunch of top players and I can see them making a playoff run as well.”

Ray expects to get the No. 3 playoff seed behind Manhasset and Garden City and a first-round bye. Long Beach would host the No. 6 or 11 in the quarterfinals next Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the semis at Adelphi on May 24.

“We want to get to the semis and see Garden City again,” Ray said. “They beat us 8-3, but it wasn’t our best game.”