LI Lacrosse Journal
June 1, 2022
2 min read
Class A Girls County Finals Northport Victorious Over Ward Melville
June 1, 2022
2 min read
The girls Suffolk Class A County Final’s match was a highly anticipated spar between two powerhouses, the Northport Tigers and Ward Melville Patriots. With Northport going undefeated in conference and Melville’s sole loss coming against Northport, this matchup had fans with their popcorn at the ready. Under the reigns of first year head coach Stephanie Peragallo, the Lady Patriots reached their first county final in over a decade despite having graduated immense amounts of talent over the years. On the contrary, this would be Northport’s third appearance in a row, and they looked to three-peat.
Ward Melville is one of the youngest teams on Long Island having most of their production come from sophomores including Grace Mulham and Grace Balocca. The emergence of freshman Ava Simonton was immense which was coupled with great senior leadership from Courtney Quinn and Jill Gironda. Northport’s seniors were incredible all season including Ella Cabrera and Kaylie Mackiewicz who combined for over 140 points. 8th grader Emma Greenberg has been a solid defender all year despite her age and this matchup proved to be worthy of the preview. The game began with stud attackmen Grace Balocca finishing a beautiful pass from fellow sophomore attackmen Grace Mulham to put the Patriots up 1-0. This game would continue to go back and forth with the largest run of goals for either team being two in row. Goalkeeper Ava Carillo was especially impressive for the Patriots in the early stages of the contest making several point-blank saves to keep the game close. The back and forth play led to the first half score being 4-4 with the game available for the taking. Despite the tight game, Northport’s Isabella Germani emerged as the biggest threat and gave Ward Melville’s defense troubles all afternoon as she finished with four goals. Her fellow midfielder Ella Cabrera added two of her own and sent two helpers Germani’s direction making this duo virtually unstoppable. Despite the late game heroics of the Patriots ride and Grace Balocca’s impressive three goal outing, Northport’s defense, lead by goalie Megan Morris, proved to be stout enough to hang on and win this one with a final score of 8-7. Northport won their third straight county title and will look to defend the LIC.
