Lady Bulldogs make playoff debut

Ninth-seeded Hewlett put up quite a fight against Conference B-II champion Lynbrook in a Nassau Class B first-round girls’ lacrosse playoff game May 16.

The Lady Bulldogs, in the postseason for the first time in their three-year history after finishing runners-up to the Lady Owls during the regular season, came up short 16-13. Senior Nicole Pataky’s six goals and three assists and junior Kasey Carter’s four goals and three assists paced No. 8 Lynbrook, which fell in the quarterfinals to perennial power Garden City.

“Our goal this season was to make the playoffs and take the next step as a program,” Hewlett coach Rosemarie D’Ambrosio said. “We were ranked at the bottom of the conference and finished second. I knew we had the talent to do it.”

Freshman Sam DiSalvo (five goals, one assist), junior Jenni Rogoff (four goals) and sophomore Val DeNapoli (three goals) paced the offense for the Lady Bulldogs, who won nine games for the second year in a row.

“I thought we played really well,” D’Ambrosio said. “I’m proud of the girls and they’re proud of themselves. It was a back-and-forth game. They had a five-goal run that made the difference.”

Lynbrook coach Vinny Tetro, who is the assistant girls’ soccer coach at Hewlett, employed a similar defensive strategy that worked well in the Lady Owls’ 11-6 regular-season win over the Lady Bulldogs April 15. He had sophomore Taylor Simeone shadow Hewlett senior captain Dani Kandel, who came into the playoffs with 50 goals and finished with 51.

“Dani’s a playmaker we knew we needed to contain,” Tetro said. “We added a little wrinkle and tried to lock down DiSalvo too, but it didn’t work well in the first half. We gave them too many free shots and had to adjust our defense mid-game.”

The Lady Owls, who also got two goals from senior Julie Wigand and junior Adrienne Germanakos, led 11-10 after an explosive first half for both sides. Hewlett junior goalie Meri Oshrain had nine saves, while Lynbrook freshman Sarah Chyriwski turned aside seven shots. “Meri had a great second half,” D’Ambrosio said.

Hewlett’s four offensive standouts all picked up individual honors. DeNapoli, who had 29 goals and 10 assists and dominated the face-off circle, picked up All-County accolades. “She’s always all over the place,” D’Ambrosio said.

Kandel, who didn’t pick up a lacrosse stick until the school introduced the sport, had 18 assists to go along with her 51 goals and was named Honorable Mention All-County. She had a career-high six goals May 11 in a 20-12 victory over Mepham in the regular-season finale. “Dani was a leader on and off the field and will be a big loss for us,” D’Ambrosio said.

DiSalvo (58 goals, 13 assists) and Rogoff (50, 24) were named All-Conference. On the defensive end, the Lady Bulldogs got consistent strong play from freshmen Emily Cohen and Ally Geiger.