East Meadow knocks off Baldwin

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After winning just one of its first eight games, East Meadow girls’ lacrosse clicked down the stretch of the regular season and captured three of its last four against Conference 3 rivals to enter the Nassau Class A playoffs on the upswing.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, the Jets continued their ascent against young and talented Baldwin, which shared the Conference 4 title with Kennedy to make program history.

Senior Vincenza Morgillo had two goals and two assists, senior Kelly Stump and junior Alexis Chew scored twice apiece, and junior goaltender Dynastee Ramos made 10 saves to lead East Meadow to a 9-2 elimination-game victory. The Jets (5-8) advanced to face No. 3 seed Farmingdale in the quarterfinals.

“While we were looking for wins earlier in the year, we got some under our belt late in the season that gave the girls confidence coming into today,” East Meadow coach Nicolette Tortorici said after the game. “We have a nice rivalry with Baldwin in a lot of sports and the girls played with grit and intensity.”

Juniors Jasmin Tiong-Smith and Emma Ryan scored for the Bruins, who had no seniors on their roster and finished 11-4.

“I wasn’t in love with how we warmed up and unfortunately that showed in the game,” Baldwin coach Rebecca LaFlare said. “I could tell we were nervous. We didn’t shoot up to par. It wasn;t our best game but I told the girls to not let this result take away from the great season we had. We’ll have the first conference championship banner on the gym wall.”

The Bruins controlled the pace early and held possession for much of the opening 10 minutes but couldn’t solve Ramos, who had 130 regular-season stops. “Dyna worked hard all season with different drills and faced a lot of shots,” Tortorici said. “She really came through.”

 Both teams featured deep-scoring lineups, though East Meadow’s showed more in this matchup. Morgillo, who closed the regular season with six points (four goals, two assists) in a win over Plainview, continued her strong May as Baldwin’s defense focused on Jets leading scorer Isabella Pota, a senior midfielder with 30 goals.

“Vincenza really grew into her own and became more confident and aggressive,” Tortorici said. “Baldwin has a high-pressure defense and tried to lock Bella off. Bella still had a ton of draw controls to help us win.”

Morgillo and Chew accounted for all of the first-half offense as the Jets built a 4-1 lead at halftime. Stump, a dangerous lefty in the crease, scored both of her goals in the second half. Juniors Halle Lara and Brooke Vislocky, and freshman Kayla Lederer also scored. Senior Ava Lanza and sophomore Alissa Valente led the defense in front of Ramos.

Baldwin returns its entire squad next spring and will be a candidate to jump up to become one of East Meadow’s conference rivals. Freshmen CJ Keryc (39 goals) and Ava Jerome (24), along with Ryan (39) were among the Bruins’ leading scorers. Juniors Alexis Lakeran and Reyna Palmer led the defense in front of junior goalie Megan Englehart.