Seaford falls to Carle Place

This season ended in disappointment, but the future is bright for the Seaford’s girls’ lacrosse program.

Sixth-seeded Carle Place halted Seaford’s run of four straight Nassau County Class C semifinal appearances with a 12-9 upset win on May 13. The setback under the lights at home ended the youthful Lady Vikings’ campaign at 9-6. They had just one senior on the roster.

“They will be back and they will learn from this,” Seaford head coach Kurt Dankenbrink said after the season-ending loss that prevented a semifinal rematch against Oyster Bay at Adelphi. “This will make them want it a little more next year.”

Seaford graduated eight seniors off last year’s 7-8-1 team, but its youthful team earned the No. 3 seed in Class C with some impressive victories including a convincing 16-9 triumph against Carle Place on April 13. The playoff meeting was a far different story however with Carle Place jumping out to a 10-5 lead and then dominating time-of-possession to stave off a Viking rally after the Frogs were down one player for the last 18:24 of the game following a fourth yellow card.

“We played hard, but they capitalized on our mistakes,” Dankenbrink said. “You have to earn every single possession.”

After Seaford fell behind by five goals, it quickly got back into the game starting with a goal from the lone senior Shannon Duncan 3:35 into the second half. The Lady Vikings then took advantage of a yellow card thrown with 19:43 left in the game and tallied three straight goals over the next 1:22 to cut the lead to 10-9. Seaford, however, was kept off the scoreboard the remainder of the game with Carle Place picking up two key insurance goals and using an effective stall to limit the number of shot attempts.

Seaford was led offensively against Carle Place by three goals from junior Alyssa Mallery and two tallies from Duncan in her final high school game. Sophomore Allison Palermo, who has committed to play at college powerhouse Northwestern, recorded three points on one goal and two assists. Also registering points in a losing effort were eighth grader Gina Toscano as well as freshmen Jaclyn Grzelaczyk, Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk and Lily Kolodinsky.

Seaford goalie Dana Duggan had a strong junior season and recorded seven stops against Carle Place to keep the Vikings in the game. Duggan will help lead a defense next year with Kaitlyn Meyer and Molly Van Duesen.

Dankenbrink, who founded the program in 1999, said he is proud of how his young team competed during a rebuilding season and that the experience gained will be a boost to higher goals next year. The Lady Vikings have consistently competed on the semifinal stage and will be eyeing the program’s first finals appearance in 2016.

“The positive thing about us is we graduate just one senior,” Dankenbrink said. “We have a lot of young talent coming back.”