Lady Owls win playoff opener

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.

Pataky, who finished with 47 goals and 17 assists, controlled most of the game, Tetro said. “It could’ve been her last one for us,” he said. “She and the other seniors remembered what it felt like last year when we lost at home in the playoffs to Jericho. They didn’t want it to happen to them.”

Seniors Jillian Chyriwski and Meghan McCarthy led the defense all year long, while senior Jessica Valentino was a key in the midfield along with junior Carrie Feltkamp, Tetro said.