Lady Sailors cap exciting year

It was a different kind of season for the Oceanside girls’ lacrosse team: a new ability-based schedule had the Lady Sailors engaged in close games all season, and a roster including 10 seniors and six freshmen kept coach Ken Dwyer creative in his utilization of talent. On top of that, Oceanside won three games in the final seconds, played in four overtime contests and also hung tough against some of Long Island’s strongest teams.

But the season was also a typical one in that Dwyer made it work. The Lady Sailors advanced to the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons before falling to perennial powerhouse Massapequa in the quarterfinal round on May 15.

“It was an interesting year,” Dwyer said. “It would have been great to have been a fan watching all of these games.”

Dwyer was especially pleased with the way his team played defense. Led by a quartet of senior defenders — Kayla Flynn, Kelly Backus, Danielle D’Angelo and Cassidy Freudenberg — the Lady Sailors allowed an average of nine goals per game, better than all but six teams in Nassau County. Flynn earned all-county honors, Backus was an all-conference selection and D’Angelo was acknowledged as the team’s “Unsung Hero.”

Midfielders Laura Raimondo and Heather Burns also contributed to Oceanside’s tough defense, Dwyer said. Raimondo’s nickname on the team was “The Backer,” because she always had everyone’s back. Dwyer called Burns, who was often charged with covering the opposition’s best scorer, the team’s best on-ball defender. Erin Regan moved into the starting role in the net. Perhaps her finest hour came in a loss: She stopped 15 shots in a 9-6 loss to another of Nassau’s top teams, South Side.

The team’s top scorer and facilitator of the offense, senior Courtney Collins, had 36 goals and 17 assists. Midfielder Sydney Oshinsky, a junior, tied for the team lead with 36 goals, and she did that on just 70 shots, according to Dwyer. Oshinsky also scored two game-winners and had an assist on the deciding goal in another game. She banged home the winner with three seconds left in a 10-9 win over Seaford on May 2.  Freshman Cassie Cesario added 23 goals, including one off an assist from Oshinsky that beat Friends Academy 16-15 in triple overtime on April 25. Cesario had also scored with two second left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

Dwyer credited senior Lauren Cassidy with giving the team a much–needed draw specialist. Cassidy led the team with 60 draw controls. “Lauren made a huge contribution,” he said.

Typically, Dwyer found a way to get huge contributions from a roster full of players. Typically, Oceanside found itself in the playoffs. Now the Lady Sailors say goodbye to a combined 28 seasons of varsity experience, which the 10 graduating seniors represent. Next season, Dwyer will ask Oshinsky and Cesario, among others, to lead the way.