By MIKE CAPUTO
In her first season as varsity coach, Rosenau took the team from the cellar to an appearance in the 2007 county championship game, a level the school had not reached since 1995. This season, the Lady Jets took the next step, ousting perennial power Massapequa last week to capture the first county championship in East Meadow field hockey history.
"Last year the saying was 'Making impossible possible' - we thought there was not a possibility in the world to get where we were," Rosenau said. "[This season] we knew we were capable and had to work hard and push through all of it."
Hard work sometimes meant practicing seven days a week, intense conditioning and constant repetition. The girls responded, and their attitude toward the game changed, Rosenau said. Many even volunteered to stay after long practices to get in extra work.
Then "everything fell into place and we kept winning and winning," Rosenau said.
East Meadow lost only two games in the regular season, and entered the Nassau County Class A playoffs as the No. 2 seed. The Lady Jets thrilled their energized fan base with a 1-0 overtime victory over No. 3 Baldwin in the semifinals on Oct. 29.
Three days later, East Meadow was slated to compete in the Class A county championship game against Massapequa, a team it hadn't beaten in more than a decade. Moreover, the Lady Jets would have to play on artificial turf for the first time, at Adelphi.
Rosenau said that her team, which was used to dribbling and concentrating on stick work while playing on slower natural grass, had to prepare for a faster style of play that artificial turf demands. That included quick passes and more shots on goal. "You play the entire season predominantly on grass, then get to the championship and have to play it on a different ground," Rosenau said. "We played two totally different games."
Because of the referee's decision to call back two goals, the teams were knotted at 1 going into overtime. It took less than a minute for East Meadow sophomore Michelle Minutoli to take senior Tracy Rivas's pass and launch it into the goal, clinching the championship.
Rosenau, who has played field hockey since childhood, had never won a title in any sport, as a player or a coach. She said she did not really know how to react after Minutoli's dramatic goal. "It was the most unbelievable feeling," she said. "When I ran out to the girls I felt like I was running for hours - I couldn't get there fast enough. I felt like one of the girls on the team. Everybody was crying and screaming."
The momentum ran out for the Lady Jets on Nov. 5, when they clashed with Suffolk County Class A champion Ward Melville with the Long Island championship on the line. In a steady rain at Adelphi, heavily favored Ward Melville controlled the game from the opening whistle, though the East Meadow defense held the Patriots scoreless for the entire first half.
Less than three minutes into the second half, however, Ward Melville scored a goal off a penalty stroke, and the offensive onslaught began. The Patriots scored three goals in less than 10 minutes and appeared to have the game in hand, so Rosenau decided to play all of her seniors. Despite a spirited effort, the Lady Jets lost 6-0. But the rain and a disappointing second half did not damper the team's outlook on its 13-3-1 season.
"They played to the end, and didn't have that many crying faces," Rosenau said, "and they were crying because the season was over, not because they lost. They appreciated what they got because no other team in East Meadow history has gotten a [field hockey] championship."
The Lady Jets will have to defend their county title without 11 graduating seniors: Rivas, Amy Slagus, Nicole Semonella, Kristina Curry, Megan Hallquest, Megan Lynch, Alyssa Graziano, Tara Harten, Rachel Abeshouse, Alex Simonoff and Amanda Sendkewitz.
"It may just be like another transition year," said Rosenau. Based on the last two "transition" years, that may not be such a bad thing.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
