South Side shows positive signs

No team knows better than South Side that in girls’ lacrosse an entire season’s title race can come down to who has the hot hand late.  

The Cyclones – who rode a three-game win streak to last year’s Nassau Class C semifinals after finishing 3-6 in Conference 1 – saw familiar signs of late-season sparks hosting third-place Garden City last week, said seventh-year coach Rob Devlin, whose club fell 9-8 in overtime to the Trojans April 27.  

All-Conference Cyclones junior Caitlin Haggerty scored twice to lift her team-best goal tally to 34 (fourth in Conference 1) while midfielders Demmerle Hamel (senior) and Charlotte Rathjen (sophomore) added a pair of goals each for South Side, which narrowly missed its first win in four games as Garden City erased a 6-3 halftime deficit.  

Guaranteed a playoff berth as a member of elite Conference 1, South Side (0-6 Conference 1, 4-7 overall) finds itself entering the stretch on roughly the same footing as last year – heating up but still searching for its first league win.  

“We have a chance to win all our remaining games,” said Devlin, whose team at Herald press time had three remaining conference matchups, including its league finale May 8 at home against first-place North Shore (6-0 Conference 1). “[Against Garden City] we started to click,” continued Devlin. “The girls played to their capabilities and showed that they have that level of ability.”  

Haggerty – whose tallies against Garden City gave the Vermont commit a team-leading 10 multi-goal outings – has 13 assists to tie with Rathjen (23 goals) for second on the club behind All-Conference junior middie Annie Madden (11 goals), who leads with 14 assists. Breaking through in her senior season, first-year-starting co-captain Hamel has a club second-leading 24 goals – a quarter of which came in the Cyclones’ second game, a 17-8 nonleague rout of host Plainedge in which Hamel had a team season-high six tallies.  

“Demmerle has taken the opportunity this year, seeing more playing time, and doing the work,” Devlin said. “We’re seeing the results of that work and of her great attitude.”  

While South Side has prevailed on average by over eight goals in its victories, the Cyclones’ average margin of defeat – aside from outliers at second-place Cold Spring Harbor and Manhasset – has been just under two and half goals. Junior All-County co-captain Morgan Harloff and Honorable Mention All-County sophomore Sienna Connolly have been key stabilizers, Devlin said, on a South Side defense that has welcomed freshman Tara Cody (42 saves) and senior Kyla Murphy (25 saves) as first-year goalkeepers. “Our defense has done a good job,” Devlin said. “They’ve kept us in range and our goalies keep improving.”

The Cyclones’ 6-3 lead against Garden City marked South Side’s largest halftime advantage in any of its losses. The contest also saw Hamel, Haggerty and Rathjen each score two or more goals for the fifth time in the past six games.

“The girls set their mind to getting better,” Devlin said. “You’re seeing that happen. We knew we’d take time this year to develop. The way we’re playing getting close to playoffs, the girls are showing they’re ready.”

Added Devlin: “They’re starting to believe.”