Mepham lighting up scoreboard

The start of the season has been a blur for opponents of Mepham’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team. The veteran Lady Pirates have run out to an 5-0 start (3-0 in Conference AA-IV) behind an offense that’s averaging 13.4 goals per game and scored at least 11 in each one.

In the most-recent win, a 13-8 decision over Bellmore JFK on March 30, seven different Mepham players scored goals, including three with hat tricks. “The key for us is that we have senior leadership,” coach Jim Mulvey said. “We have 11 seniors back.”

The up-tempo offense is not only potent, but well-balanced, as 10 different players—among the programs’ biggest roster ever (28)—have already tallied goals through the first five games. The program has also added assistant coach Megan Milhaven, a former four-year player at Cortland, who’s helping develop the team’s technical side. “We’re going to try and push the tempo and beat [the defense] before they set up,” Mulvey said. “We want to try and utilize our speed at midfield.”

So far, the plan has been successful and the offense has been led by a group of seniors, including Taylor Black, Brianna Caponi and Ashley Donnelly. In the win over the Lady Cougars, Black and Caponi each had three goals with Black also chipping in a pair of assists. Freshman Erin Chalich also had three goals. Black and Caponi, one of the team’s most pleasant surprises, are tied for the team lead in goals (17). Caponi started the season fast with four goals in a season-opening 13-5 win over Plainview JFK on March 18 and hasn’t slowed down.

”We share the ball quite well,” Mulvey said. “We have a pretty balanced attack.”

And scoring goals isn’t the only duty for the attack, which often lags behind in the offensive end to not only force turnovers, but ride opponents on their clears to try and generate even more opportunities. “Although the attack is offense we expect them to play defense on a clear,” Mulvey said. “We’ve had a lot of turnovers on the clear where we’ve benefitted from it [with possession].”

But as potent as the attack has been, the wheels of the offense start moving at midfield where senior Erin Gilroy can be found setting up in isolation behind the net. She’s notched 17 points (11 goals, six assists) already and teams with senior Samantha Picinich, sophomore Maeve Testa and freshman Sarah Bayer in jump-starting the transition game and beating defenses down the field.

Senior Kaitlyn McCleneghan has seen the bulk of the time in net and has worked on becoming a more vocal leader and improved on her clears, a big help in the Lady Pirates’ transition game. Sophomore Kimberly Buell has also seen some time in net. The defense for Mepham is led by seniors Megan Anderson, Caitlyn Buckley and Rianna Ramos with sophomore Amanda Amalfitano developing into the team’s toughest defender. “She’s small but she’s very tough defensively,” Mulvey said. “She knows the game, she’s very vocal and a hard-working kid.”