Valley Stream aims for improvement

Coming off a respectable 5-6 finish last season, Valley Stream District’s girls’ lacrosse program is looking for improvement despite losing 11 players to graduation.

“We’re still waiting for the weather to cooperate,” second-year coach Jessica Ricotta said. “We’re rebuilding from the ground-up, but the chemistry is great. I’m really pushing for team unity and the girls are working hard and showing they’re dedicated and want to win.”

Ricotta said she’s excited about the new conference alignment in Nassau County where teams are grouped by ability as opposed to enrollment. Since Valley Stream pulls from Central, North and South High Schools, the schedule by population can be grueling. “I like the idea of the ability based conferences,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is to be at least somewhere in the top three, if not conference champs.”

Valley Stream was placed in Conference V along with New Hyde Park, Great Neck North, Wheatley, Glen Cove, Great Neck South, Sewanhaka, Malverne/East Rockaway, West Hempstead, Roosevelt, and Hempstead.

“One of the things we’re focusing on is more passing and less cradling,” Ricotta said. “I like what I’ve seen so far. When you have nine girls scoring in the same game, it says a lot about teamwork.”

Valley Stream stood at 4-1 through five games after back-to-back road trips last Friday and Saturday. Senior Meghan Adams had five goals and two assists to lead a 14-7 win at West Hempstead, and she and Isabella Morales scored five times in a 16-10 victory at Glen Cove.

Offensively, Adams from Central H.S. and Morales, Audrey D’Aulisa and Kathleen Kearney, all from North H.S., lead the attack. D’Aulisa is a captain and comes off an All-Conference campaign that saw her lead the team in scoring. So far this spring, she has 9 goals and 5 assists. Six of her points (4 goals, 2 assists) came in a season-opening 17-6 victory over Sewanhaka. 

“Audrey makes good decisions and she’s not afraid to go aggressively towards the goal and shoot,” Ricotta said. “She has great stick skills and quickness.”

Kearney, who also sees time in the midfield, is a creative playmaker and helps get the team pumped up before games, the coach said. “She’s unselfish and a leader on the field,” Ricotta said.

Like D’Aulisa, Morales opened the year with a four-goal outburst against Sewanhaka. “I see Isabella as a future leader,” Ricotta said of the sophomore. “She plays on a club team and her skills just keep getting better.”

One of the keys to the team’s early success has been senior Laura Hernandez, a multifaceted midfielder with a defensive mindset. She’s thriving in her first year taking faceoffs. Freshman Catherine Rivera is a fiery and speedy defensive middie who picked up her first varsity goal in a win over Hempstead.

In the back, junior Dana Schimmenti is the eagle eye for the zone defense in front of senior goaltender Julia Latremore. While more than capable of putting the ball in the cage, Latremore, from South H.S., has quick reflexes and the ability to make long clears to get Valley Stream’s transition game in motion.