Long Beach still a threat

The regular season hasn’t gone as planned for Long Beach’s girls’ lacrosse team, which lost its third straight and six of the last seven games May 2 when North Shore rolled to a 12-3 Conference I victory.

The Lady Vikings got five goals from Tess Korten and three from Carly Comitino to even their overall record at 7-7. Senior Mollie Medrano, sophomore Hannah Sofield and freshman Catie Breglia found the net for the Lady Marines, who slipped to 4-8.

“The game was out of character for us,” Long Beach coach Rachel Ray said. “North Shore is fast and athletic, but we didn’t play our game.

“There’s nothing we can do but move forward,” she added. “We can be dangerous in the playoffs. We have to be completely focused in practice and get our morale back.”

Ray came into the season looking for big things from a team that returned intact after winning 11 games and advancing to the Nassau Class B semifinals in 2012. Injuries and other factors brought some adversity to the table this spring, and Ray is hoping a strong finish is on the horizon.

“We knew Conference I would be a challenge,” Ray said. “We know we’re in the playoffs, and now it’s just a matter of where we’ll be seeded. Teams might not be looking at us the same way as they were at the beginning, but we have so much talent. We just have to get our offense on track.”

The Lady Marines played well April 29 in a back-and-forth 8-7 loss at Plainedge that saw six different players score for them. Senior Jillian Piazza, an All-County selection a year ago who was sidelined earlier this season due to injury, had two goals and an assist. Medrano, Sofield, Breglia, senior Molly Martin and senior Hayley Kosiner also scored, but Ray said a handful of quality chances were missed.

“We’ve been having trouble finishing around the cage,” Ray said. “We’ve had some games where we had everyone rolling, which showed what we’re capable of doing, and we need to get back to that.”

Heading into the last two regular-season games, Breglia and junior Melissa Rubin were tied for the team lead in goals with 15. Junior Liz Rourke had 14, and sophomore Rebecca Idson nine. Rubin (Berkley) and Rourke (San Diego State) have verbal commitments to continue their studies and lacrosse careers in California.  

Defensively, Bryant-bound senior Molly Martin is looking to earn All-County honors for a second straight season. Seniors Katherine Meyers and Hayley Kosiner, as well as sophomore Brianne Canner, have been solid as well, Ray said.

In goal, seventh-grader Sarah Resznick has “been great,” Ray said. She has 59 saves on the year. “She’s made a lot of difficult saves,” the coach added. “Her reaction time is tremendous, and she plays with confidence. Other coaches have praised her.”

In Long Beach’s last win, 13-5 over Baldwin on April 20, Piazza had four goals and Idson added three goals and two assists.