Lynbrook's rally falls short at Seaford

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The Lynbrook girls’ soccer team fell one comeback short.

The Owls, who were notorious this season for collecting wins and draws despite allowing the first goal, trailed 3-0 at halftime and almost pulled off yet another rally in the second half on a pair of goals by junior Leah Casolaro – including one on a penalty shot with about 12 minutes left – but couldn’t find the equalizer as No. 7 Lynbrook fell 3-2 at second-seeded Seaford in the first round of the Class A playoffs last Saturday.

Lynbrook played without injured midfielders Gabby Meszaros and freshman Bella Tjaden, the latter leading the team with seven assists.

“We didn’t have our best first half and at halftime I said, ‘Keep your heads up. This is what we do,’” said first-year coach Jenna Crimmins. “We started to get into a little bit more of a groove and do the things we needed to do and play the way that we play. It was still a comeback, but we couldn’t pull off the win this time.”

Freshman Raquelle Vainroob had her third straight 10-save game for the Owls, who were eliminated in the first round for the third straight season. Lynbrook was the top ‘A’ team in Conference AB-2 after going unbeaten in 10 divisional contests (6-0-4, 8-1-4 overall) and finished two points behind ‘B’ school Cold Spring Harbor in the standings.

“You have that sour taste in your mouth no matter what because we had so much fun and we wanted to keep going,” Crimmins said. “But when you look at the progress from last year and you just have to be proud of that and respect the improvement that we made.”

Lynbrook hadn’t lost since a 5-0 non-conference defeat against Kellenberg in the season opener. It started 3-1-1 despite allowing the first goal in all five matches, erased a second 2-0 deficit in as many games against Island Trees in a 2-2 draw on Oct. 16 and got the equalizer from senior Anthonia Edobor in the second half of a 1-1 deadlock against Cold Spring Harbor in the regular-season finale.

Casolaro finished the season strong as her two goals on Saturday gave her seven in the last five games. She was the team leader in goals (14) and points (16), including six tallies during a four-game streak earlier in the campaign.

“She’s really the person that is able to score the goals for us when we need it,” Crimmins said. “She’s a big-time player.”

Edobor entered Saturday’s game with seven goals and an assist during a seven-game points streak. She finished with 12 goals after not recording a point during the Owls’ 2-9-2 effort in 2023. Sophomore Olivia Ramirez netted seven goals and junior Payton Stalter was another key distributor with a goal and five assists.

Vainroob finished the season with 79 saves.

Besides Edobor and Meszaros (4-2-6 after returning from an early-season injury), Lynbrook will lose seniors Gaby Ramirez (4-2-6), Jacky Thayer (1-2-3), Cate Jennings (20 saves), Katy Gottlieb (0-3-3) and Jill Festa to graduation.