Oceanside rally falls short

Trailing by three goals with less than a minute to go in last Friday night’s showdown for the Nassau Conference II girls’ lacrosse title, Oceanside made a valiant effort to force overtime but Syosset’s Kim Presuto had one more big save left.

After Jenna Doherty and Christina McCabe brought the Lady Sailors within one, Presuto’s 14th and final stop came from point-blank range in the closing seconds and preserved Syosset’s 9-8 victory. The Lady Braves, who got four goals from eighth-grader Taylyn Stadler, sent just one shot past Oceanside goalie Taylor Passuello (10 saves) in the second half but built enough breathing room with a strong opening 25 minutes.

“I’m really proud of the way we battled back and put ourselves in position to tie it,” Lady Sailors coach Ken Dwyer said. “Syosset moved the ball better than any team we’ve seen. We made a slight adjustment at halftime and I thought we did a nice job in a lot of areas.”

Syosset scored the last three goals of the first half and led 8-3 at intermission, but Passuello and the defensive work of Courtney Capobianco, Kerry Flavin, Kristen Ekstrom, and Samantha Stein allowed the hosts to mount a comeback. Another key was the success of freshman Kelsey Williams on faceoffs.

Of the 10 draw controls started by Williams, four came after Rachel Greenspan gave Syosset a 9-5 lead with 6:16 remaining. McCabe, a freshman who had four goals in a 10-6 win over Port Washington on April 28, got the comeback started 28 seconds later. Doherty scored with 55 seconds to go, and McCabe with 26 ticks left on the clock.

 “We made a great push,” Dwyer said. “The girls have done a great job all year. We need to treat this game the same way we would if it happened early in the season.”

The nine goals allowed was a season high for Oceanside (13-1 overall), which still ranks atop the county in defense at 5.0 goals per game. “Defense is always our focal point,” Dwyer said. “We’ve kept some high-scoring teams like Oyster Bay and Hewlett down. Taylor’s been really strong in goal, especially in the bigger games. We can’t play our zone style without a quality goalie.”

Offensively, the Lady Sailors average 11.2 goals per game and recently enjoyed a four-game stretch where they totaled 53, including a season-high 16 in a non-conference win over Long Island Lutheran on April 24. “We’re an unselfish team and good in transition,” Dwyer explained. “We have six players who are very comfortable around the net and work well as unit.”

Sophomore Cassie Cesario, who scored twice against Syosset, leads the team in goals with 40, while senior Sydney Oshinsky has found the net 34 times. Freshman Alison Schwasnick has 30, and McCabe 21.

Dwyer said the Lady Sailors are likely to be the No. 4 seed in the Nassau Class A playoffs and host Port Washington in the quarterfinals on May 14.