Mepham outlasts Calhoun in girls' lacrosse quarterfinal

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The Mepham girls lacrosse team’s regular-season finale at Calhoun on May 7 proved beneficial to the Pirates when the in-district rivals separated by just 1.5 miles met again nine days later for another neighborhood battle with far bigger stakes.

After a back-and-forth start to the Class B quarterfinals last Friday, fifth-seeded Mepham used a seven-goal run over a 16:48 stretch of the game to seize control in a 12-9 win that advanced it to the county's semifinal stage against top-seeded Garden City Thursday at Adelphi.

“It was a unique situation because we just saw this match up last week,” said Mepham coach Kristen Mogavero moments after her team’s second win against Calhoun in a less than 10-day span. “We talked about the importance of possession especially in a playoff game and we got that momentum coming off the draw controls and really didn't have any doubt that we were going to be able to finish it out if we executed that game plan.”

The Pirates (8-7) began to take command against the fourth-seeded Colts in the second quarter with four goals in the last 7:44 of the period capped by a Grace Skulavik tally just before the halftime buzzer that made it 7-4.

The momentum stretched into the second half with a 3-0 run to open the third quarter on the strength of two goals from Leah Smith and one by Sierra Barbosa.

Calhoun (11-6) ended its scoring drought with an Alexandra Aievoli goal late in the third quarter before Hailey Honerkamp answered back for Mepham with a score off a feed from Siena Barbarino early in the fourth quarter that made it 11-5.

After Barbosa scored her third goal of the game to make it 12-7 midway through the fourth quarter, Calhoun stayed in the game with Aievoli scoring with 4:16 left followed by a Tessa Gerrard tally off a pass from Angelica Kasimatia that made it 12-9 with 2:40 remaining.

The Colts won the ensuing draw control, but sophomore defender Jenna Apicella then helped seal the game with a forced turnover on stick check and Mepham was then able to run out the clock.

“All season long the girls have shown class and resilience,” said Calhoun coach James Raucci. “They don’t give up.”

Calhoun’s offense was paced by four goals from Aievoli and two by Samantha Kalinoglu, both seniors. Sophomore goalie Alexa Schenfield recorded six saves.       

Skulavik led Mepham with four goals while Barbosa and Smith contributed three apiece. Senior goalie Keira Desmond registered five saves.

The win allowed Mepham’s eight seniors to prolong their high school careers while playing against a local opponent filled with players they grew up competing with.

“I've been playing with these girls, especially all the seniors since the beginning of my career, and it's so exciting to win and continue to go play Garden City and not lose on rival turf," said Barbosa, who is childfriends with Aievoli from their Bellmore-Merrick youth lacrosse days. “We're just super excited to continue getting to play.”