Late goal propels South Side

The moment wasn’t too big for this freshman.

Minutes after the Lady Cyclones lacrosse team surrendered a three-goal lead down the stretch, ninth-grader EllaGrace Delmond scored with 3:42 left as host South Side hung on for a big 11-10 win over Conference II-rival Seaford on a misty Friday night at the Rockville Centre Sports Complex.

The Lady Cyclones (5-4, 5-1 Conference II) have won consecutive games following a three-game losing streak while handing the struggling Lady Vikings their third loss in four contests.

South Side appeared to be on its way to a victory when sophomore Katie McMahon notched her fourth goal of the game to make it 10-7 with 11:24 left in the game, but Seaford scored three times in a 2:36 span to tie it, capped by Grace Pupke’s tally with 6:32 left. But just under three minutes later, Delmond cut in from the right side and made her way past two Lady Viking defenders before beating goalie Brittany Sirotta for the game-winner. 

It was Delmond’s second goal of the game and 15th of the season.

“I told her after the game, ‘That’s not a rookie move,’” said South Side coach Rob Devlin. “I said, ‘With three minutes left in a tie game, you saw a lane and you went for it.’ That was good for her to hear.”

Seaford failed to score on its final possessions thanks to the South Side defense. Senior Olivia Watterson came up with a big ground ball with 48 seconds left to help seal the victory.

The Lady Cyclones started strong by taking a 4-0 lead with just under five minutes gone in the game and held a 6-1 advantage on sophomore Julia Gentile’s first of her two goals with 18:44 remaining in the first half. But Seaford scored the next three goals to cut it to two before Delmond and McMahon tallied in the final 94 seconds as South Side carried an 8-4 advantage into intermission.

“We knew that they were good and we shouldn’t let our guard down, but they kept chipping away. They were scrappy and tough,” Devlin said of the Lady Vikings. “Thankfully, our girls pulled together. It was really back and forth, a game of streaks.” 

Sophomore Jillian Schumacher made 10 saves for the Lady Cylcones, giving her 82 on the season. Jolie Creo had four assists to up her team-leading point total to 48 and fellow senior Ailis DeTommaso scored her team-leading 28th goal of the spring. She also has 14 assists. Freshman Sydney Rathjen and Erin Reich also scored in the win.

Three of South Side’s four remaining games are on the road. It visits Long Beach (5-4, 4-3) and Locust Valley (7-1, 4-1) early this week and will host Farmingdale (6-2, 6-0) on Friday. The regular season concludes at Syosset (6-4, 4-3) on May 9.

“The next three games are going to be really hard,” Devlin said. “This is going to be a tough week this week and we’ll see how the girls handle it.”