Saturday, June 21, 2025
The Oceanside girls lacrosse team ended the regular season winning four of its final five games, including a 13-6 victory over MacArthur on May 8.
The Sailors head into the Nassau Class A playoffs as the No. 5 seed and will head to fourth-seeded Farmingdale in the quarterfinals May 15.
It’s a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals, won by the Dalers by one goal.
Farmingdale, perhaps, can provide the blueprint for Oceanside’s playoff run. A year ago, the Dalers competed in Nassau Conference II and reached the final.
Now, Oceanside is hoping to do the same.
“It is always a great opportunity,” Oceanside coach Ralph Montera Jr said. “They have the advantage because we’ll be on the road, and they are a Conference I team for a reason.”
The turning point for Oceanside (8-6), which opened the season losing four of its first five games, was a 12-9 loss at Lynbrook on April 7.
After the early struggles, Montera Jr and assistant coaches Tina Pumo and Jaclyn Sileo made some changes, switching to a zone defense, moving midfielder Sam Gemmo to attack, and bringing Ava Bowers off the bench to fill Gemmo’s spot in the midfield.
Gemmo balanced the attack, which has Sydney Abbott and Lauren Gilmore on the left side, because of her comfort level behind the cage.
“She helped us in our clear too, she’s really a midfielder athletically, so she gets open and our defender hits her, it's almost like a fast break,” Montera Jr said of Gemmo, who has 24 goals and a team-high 21 assists.
Freshman Kate Twomey has become a standout in the cage with 92 saves.
“She’s handled herself well,” Montera Jr said. “She puts a lot of pressure on herself, but her preparation is fantastic. Her practices are, are amazing. It helps her offense, too. When we play a good goalie, we’re not overwhelmed because we see one every day.”
Offensively, the Sailors aren’t reliant on one player. Rather, there’s a balance on attack. In a 17-4 win over Baldwin on April 4, 10 different players scored for Oceanside.
Kaylin Harrington has also been instrumental in Oceanside’s regular-season success. The senior midfielder has 19 goals and 15 assists, but impacts the game in other ways.
“She does everything for us. She’s one of our best defenders and has a good balance of goals and assists. She’s on the draw circle and takes draw controls, so she does everything, and she pretty much stays on the field the entire time.”
Abbott, who leads Oceanside with 37 goals, has been one of the team’s most dynamic attacking players, while Julia Morrison has raised her level since scoring five goals against Carle Place in a 17-10 win.
On the defensive side, Alexa Temple is a calming influence.
After seeing limited time last year, Ella Salonia is a full-time starter on attack. Along with starting defender Reese Barriga, they are two of the most improved players on a Sailors team looking to make noise in the playoffs.
