Lady Marines raise their game

Second-year coach Rachel Ray guided Long Beach’s girls’ lacrosse team to its two main goals this spring — a conference championship and a spot in the Nassau Class A playoffs.

“We went a step further than last year,” Ray said. “Making the playoffs was our big goal and we won the conference title along the way. We showed a lot of improvement.”

The Lady Marines (12-5 overall), who won all seven of their Conference A-II games and earned the No. 6 playoff seed, played a strong first half against third-seeded Port Washington before the experience factor kicked in during the second half. 

The Lady Vikings pulled away for a 16-7 victory behind the Froccaro cousin tandem of Jackie (five goals, one assist) and Alexa (four goals, two assists), and three goals from Danielle Rosmarin. Long Beach, which trailed by three at halftime, was led by sophomore Molly Martin’s two goals.

“We were competitive,” Ray said. “The girls came out fired up and scored the opening goal, but our youth and inexperience showed in the second half. Port has been there before and didn’t take us lightly.”

Ray said the Lady Marines played shorthanded when they fell behind by nine goals at the half and lost 20-9 at Port Washington April 16. “We were missing five or six players,” she said of the regular-season meeting. “This time we had everyone and we were in it until early in the second half.”

Long Beach entered the playoffs riding a four-game winning streak and took six of seven following the defeat at Port. Convincing victories over East Meadow (15-6 on May 5) and MacArthur (15-7 on May 10) decided the conference title. “At one point all three of us were undefeated in the conference,” Ray said. “The girls knew the games against East Meadow and MacArthur would be huge.”

Senior attack Emily McLoughlin and sophomore goalie Elyse Stark starred in the win over MacArthur in the regular-season finale. McLoughlin scored six goals and handed out two assists, while Strark made 15 saves. Freshman Liz Rourke and sophomore Mollie Medrano chipped in three goals apiece. Sophomore Jillian Piazza (five), McLoughlin and Rourke combined for 11 goals and eighth-grader Emma Cohen had three assists in the win over East Meadow.

With only a handful of seniors on this year’s roster, Ray said the program “has a lot to look forward to.” Replacing McLoughlin, who had 65 goals and 18 assists, however, will be difficult, she said. “Emily is a tremendous player and a Division I athlete in my opinion,” Ray said. “She’s going to James Madison University for academic reasons and could end up playing there.”

The Lady Marines will need Piazza (22 goals, 21 assists), Rourke (26 goals, four assists) and classmate Melissa Rubin (19 goals, four assists) to pick up some of the scoring slack.

Rubin netted the game-winning goal in what Ray recalled as the team’s most memorable victory — 9-8 over Locust Valley during spring break. “Locust Valley blew us out last season,” Ray said. “This year is was a back-and-forth game and we found a way to win.”