Big finishes for Lady Owls

Three down, three to go.

Lynbrook is halfway to reaching its goal of finishing atop the Nassau Conference B-II girls’ lacrosse standings, thanks to a come-from-behind 11-6 home victory over Hewlett prior to spring break.

The Lady Owls scored seven unanswered goals in the second half April 15 to erase a two-goal deficit and improved to 3-0 against conference rivals, while the Lady Bulldogs slipped to 1-2. The teams are 6-1 and 6-3 overall, respectively. 

“We’ve been a second-half team all year,” Lynbrook coach Vinny Tetro said. “I’m just hoping we don’t dig ourselves any more early holes.”

Senior attacks Nicole Pataky (three) and Julie Wigand, and junior midfielders Marykate Regan and Kasey Carter all had multi-goal games, and junior middle Carrie Feltkamp led the comeback with a goal and three assists in the second half. 

“We just needed to relax and play our game,” Tetro said. “When we play unselfish and pass well, we’re tough to beat.”

Freshman Sam DiSalvo’s four goals and sophomore Val DeNapoli’s goal and two assists led Hewlett, which was held to its lowest offensive output of the season. Lady Owls freshman goalie Sarah Chyriwski, who has started all seven games, made five saves.

“They ended up taking control in the end,” Hewlett coach Rosemarie D’Ambrosio said. “They specifically tried to shut down Dani [Kandel] and had a player shadow her the whole game.”

Tetro, an assistant varsity soccer coach at Hewlett, was well aware of Kandel’s ability and used sophomore Taylor Simeone to follow her every move. “I knew if we could slow down Dani, it would improve our chances to win,” he said. “Taylor’s fast and athletic and did a great job.”

It was the third time in as many conference games Lynbrook exploded in the second half. It overcame a three-goal deficit at intermission to clip New Hyde Park, 14-11, in the conference opener April 4, and turned a one-goal halftime lead into a 17-8 victory over Bellmore-JFK five days later.