Oceanside outlasts Mepham, 13-11

Running with some bigger dogs in Nassau Conference II girls’ lacrosse after going 7-1 against Conference III rivals last spring, Mepham is proving it belongs despite some narrow defeats.

Last Friday, the Pirates failed to protect a two-goal halftime lead and fell to visiting Oceanside, 13-11, in a spirited back-and-forth matchup. Junior Natalie Paul scored all three of her goals in the second half and put the Sailors ahead for good with 9:38 remaining off a feed from junior Grace DiDominica.

Senior Megan Checola, junior Maeve Barrins, and sophomores Leigha Zaman and Kaylin Harrington scored twice for Oceanside (4-5 overall), which evened its conference mark at 2-2. Junior Jenna Dempsey led Mepham (4-3 overall, 1-3 in II) with a hat trick and an assist.

“This game was a lot like our season so far, we’ve been a little up and down,” Oceanside coach Ralph Montera Jr. said. “Mepham is an up-and-coming team so this is a nice win for us. I thought the keys were we held our own on draws and were more aggressive going to the cage and had fewer turnovers in the second half.”

The game was deadlocked eight times, similar to the Pirates’ 10-9 overtime victory over Plainedge in the conference opener a few weeks earlier when sophomore Hailey Honerkamp provided the heroics.

“The girls know every game is going to be a battle,” Mepham coach Kristen Mogavero said. “Coming up from Conference III to II we have an underdog mentality. We had a tough loss a few days ago against Farmingdale, but we’re playing well and competing hard.”

Continuing with their balanced scoring, the Pirates had seven different goal scorers in the first half and led Oceanside 7-5 at intermission. Sophomores Sierra Barbosa and Grace Skulavik sandwiched early goals around Checola’s pair, then Honerkamp, sophomore Leah Smith, Dempsey, senior Quinn Schroeder and junior Katie Burke all found the back of the net.

“We’re not relying on just one or two scorers,” said Mogavero, who noted the defense in front of junior goalie Catherine Chow is anchored by senior Madison Weber. “Every game we have a bunch of girls getting goals and assists,” she added.

Oceanside, which unlike Mepham (Class B) will compete in the Class A playoffs, scored five of the first six goals after halftime (Paul, Harrington, Barrins, senior Erin Bellinger and DiDominica) to lead 10-8 with 17:26 remaining.

The Pirates responded, tying it on goals from junior Ashley Felsberg and Dempsey, before the Sailors dug deep late.

“Natalie is a force,” Montera Jr. said of Paul, who completed her hat trick with 4:06 remaining to boost Oceanside’s lead to 13-10. “She’s as strong defensively as she is offensively and never gets tired.”

The victory snapped a three-game Sailors’ slide that included hard-fought defeats to Class A’s Port Washington and Syosset. “We could face Port in the first round of playoffs,” Montera Jr. said. “We have a lot of lacrosse left we’ll see what happens.”