Lynbrook streaks into playoffs

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Last month, Lynbrook girls’ lacrosse coach Vin Tetro was confident his team would improve as the season unfolded and peak at the right time. He couldn’t have been more right.

The Lady Owls (11-4, 4-4 Conference II) went on a major tear since dropping their first three conference games, all consecutively, in late March, winning nine of their final 10 games while positioning themselves for a potential deep playoff run. All facets of their game clicked during their run, with the offense averaging just over 13 goals a game and the defense yielding eight.

The offense saved their best for the final two games of the season by tying a season-high in goals with 19 against Jericho on May 2 before netting 17 more at Oyster Bay on Monday. They reached double digits in 12 of 15 games this spring.

“We’re playing at a much different level than we were in the beginning of the year,” said Tetro. “They’ve learned the speed of the game. We had a couple of close, tough overtime losses that we learned from. Just game experience in general and coming together and learning our system [keyed the finish].”

The Lady Owls finished tied for fifth in the conference with Plainedge, but the Red Devils held the tiebreaker by virtue of their 15-11 victory over Lynbrook on April 16. Plainedge also finished strong by taking seven of its final nine games, which Tetro believes will leave his team with a No. 6 seed for the playoffs.

Sophomore midfielder Jenna Hendrickson scored a season-high seven goals against Oyster Bay to finish with 64 on the season, the fifth best among all Nassau County players and 24 more than last spring. Her 78 points put her among the top 10 in the county.

“This year, she came in after playing high-level travel and then playing all year round going to a lot of Division I prospect camps and she learned what it takes to get to the next level,” Tetro said.

Junior Elizabeth Murphy was also instrumental in Lynbrook’s success with 39 goals and 72 points, including three four-goal games. Kayleigh Stalter (29 goals) and Casey Kaplan (18) provided depth.

Kaplan also provided one of the season’s best defensive plays by stealing the ball with 20 seconds left to preserve the Lady Owls’ 9-8 victory over Locust Valley on April 29, which Tetro called the biggest win of the season.

Sophomore Madison Marchetta had an impressive first season in goal and finished with 66 saves, including 12 in a double-overtime loss against Farmingdale on April 1. Tetro felt her valiant effort that day was the turning point of her season and improved her confidence.

Tetro also credited the defensive corps of Jessica Woll, Lena Weinkauf and Felicia Guglielmo for showing great improvement as the season progressed.

Lynbrook lost in the quarterfinals last year, but Tetro is confident that his team’s strong finish can carry over into the upcoming playoffs.

“Everybody’s beatable,” he proclaimed.