Lynbrook rolls into playoffs

Lynbrook enters the Nassau Class B girls’ lacrosse playoffs with wins in eight of its last nine regular-season games, including a 17-7 decision over East Meadow in the finale on May 5.

In scoring in double digits for a ninth straight game, the Lady Owls (12-3 overall, 8-1 in Conference III) were led by offensive standouts Molly Carter (five goals, three assists), Gabrielle Patick (four goals) and Ciara Gordon (three goals, three assists.) Senior Olivio Piro added three goals and two assists, and freshman Sophia LoCicero chipped in a goal and two assists.

“We’re going into the playoffs playing exactly the way we want to be playing,” Lynbrook coach Vincent Tetro said. “We have three of the leading scorers in the county, our defense has gotten better and our goalie is doing well.

“We know we’ve got a tough first-round matchup with Long Beach,” he added. “They’re strong defensively and have one of the top goalies in the county.”

Tetro said all the pieces all started to come together for Lynbrook in early April when it held off Carle Place, 11-9. Freshman goalie Hope Germanakos stopped a breakaway with 2:45 left and the score tied, and Patick notched the game-winning goal 12 seconds later. “Hope is a field player converted to a goalie,” Tetro said. “She’s still learning, but she’s aggressive and doing a tremendous job.”

The coach said he also tweaked the defense, moving senior Bridget Baran and junior Michelle Cantanno from the midfield to the back. Cantanno instantly became a lockdown weapon and came up big in Lynbrook’s 13-10 victory over then-unbeaten Baldwin on April 17. “Michelle’s so athletic, we put her up against the other teams’ best scorer,” Tetro said. “Doing that freed up our other defenders, Amanda Swanson and Karaline Bartels, to play straight-up and not worry about any particular opponent.”

Switching Baran and Cantanno out of the midfield opened up additional playing time for LoCicero, Gina Giovinco, another freshman, and sophomore Kerrin Montgomery. “They gained so much experience and became constants in the rotation,” Tetro said.

The coach noted having a pair of seniors like Gordon and Patick to lead the midfield provided him with flexibility in the lineup. Gordon has 33 goals and 29 assists, while Patick leads the Lady Owls in goals (59) and ranks tied for fifth in Nassau. “Ciara possesses the ball more than anyone else on the team and we depend on her so much,” Tetro said. “We knew coming into the year we’d have plenty of firepower with Ciara, Gabby and Molly. They’ve been scoring in bunches.”

Carter, a sophomore, leads Lynbrook in points with 79 and had two of her biggest games in big spots, scoring six goals against both Baldwin and Clarke. She’s one goal shy of 50.

The lone conference loss for the Lady Owls came March 28 against eventual champion Island Trees, 13-12. “It still burns a little bit, but it was so long ago and the girls did a great job of putting it behind them,” Tetro said.