Oceanside peaks at right time

Senior Danielle Montano (five goals, one assist) and junior Courtney Collins (two goals, four assists) registered six points apiece last Friday evening as Oceanside beat visiting Freeport, 14-3, in non-league girls’ lacrosse action.

The Lady Sailors (7-6 overall, 4-3 in Conference I) got goals from eight different players and 10 saves from senior goaltender Jessica Maxwell on the way to winning for the fifth time in their last six games. Erica Brook (two goals), Shannon McGuinness, Sydney Oshinsky, Kaitlyn Barile, Kelly Hannon and Amanda Rizzo also scored as the offense matched its high-water mark for the year.

“The turnaround has been huge for us,” Oceanside coach Ken Dwyer said. “Even the game we lost recently to Massapequa…quite frankly we played well. We were up 1-0 after 20 minutes and to keep a team like that off the board for so long says a lot.”

Though a one-goal loss at Lynbrook on April 16 left the Lady Sailors with a 2-5 mark through seven games, it was in the second half that afternoon, Dwyer said, when the direction of his team changed. “We scored the last five goals and lost 8-7,” he recalled. “We found some fight and it propelled us into the next game.”

Oceanside’s hot streak began two days later in the second half against conference rival Baldwin. Oshinsky’s goal with 3:15 left capped a come-from-behind 7-6 victory that saw the Lady Sailors overcome five goals from Baldwin’s Allie Rodgers. Montano, Collins and Stephanie Keane found the net twice apiece, and Maxwell had 14 stops. “We’ve had some great team efforts and that was one of them,” Dwyer said. 

In the five games to follow, Dwyer’s defense hasn’t allowed more than three goals in the first half and averaged 4.5 goals against in the wins. “I attribute a lot of the success to the simple evolution of the team,” he said. “One of the keys is the defense. Assistant coach Ralph Montera helped us implement a zone this year, and our ability to play it eventually kicked in.”

While Montero (42 goals), Collins (21 goals, 15 assists), Keane (21 goals), and Oshinsky (15 goals, 11 assists) spearhead the offense, the defensive efforts of Annie Intrabartola, Kayla Flynn, Danielle D’Angelo and Kelly Backus have been equally important.

Syosset is Oceanside’s final regular-season opponent for a third consecutive year, Dwyer said, and a Nassau Class AA first-round playoff matchup between the two looms likely. “Two years ago we beat Syosset in the final game to make the playoffs, but last year they beat us and kept us out of the playoffs,” he explained. “We’re both already in the playoffs this year, but it’s probably going to determine who gets seeded higher and home-field advantage in the first round.”