2005 All-Long Island Girls Lacrosse

BY ERIK BOLAND | STAFF WRITER
June 9, 2005
A look at the girls lacrosse players who stood out on the field this spring.

SHAYLYN BLANEY
Ward Melville, Attack, Sophomore
The hard-charging Blaney doesn't just go to the goal; she makes the journey an all-out assault. Blaney scored 87 goals this year and added 24 assists and is the only sophomore to make Newsday hifive! All-Long Island. College coaches already are salivating.

JILL BYERS
Northport, Attack, Senior
The Notre Dame-bound Byers leaves Northport as one of the best girls lacrosse players ever to come off Long Island. She finished with school-record 281career goals, including a Long Island-record 119 last season. She somehow managed to score 85 goals this season – with 42 assists – playing with a cracked patella in her right knee.

JESSICA CERVENY
Islip, Goalie, Senior
Team didn't do much this season but Cerveny, last year's Long Island Empire State Team goalie, shined as she saved 60 percent of the shots she faced. Cerveny, headed for Delaware, ended up with 175 saves, 19 in one game, and had the ability to clear the ball 75 yards downfield. Accurately.

KATIE COX
Garden City, Midfielder, Senior
 Cox, headed for Princeton, helped lead Garden City to its first Long Island Championship since 2002 after missing most of her junior season with two torn anterior cruciate ligaments. She scored 27 goals and added a team-best 36 assists and 85 ground balls. Played end-to-end and few in Nassau were better on the draw.

ALY ENGLISH
Manhasset, Attack, Senior
 Did not have an easy task, following in the footsteps of All-American Lauren Taylor, now at Yale, but English was up to it. The Stanford-bound attack scored a team-best 65 goals, including four in Manhasset's 16-12 victory over Shoreham-Wading River, the Indians' third straight Long Island crown. English came through in Manhasset's biggest games, scoring 14 goals in its three-game run to the Class C state semifinals.

VIKKI FANSLOW
Farmingdale, Defender, Senior
All about the little things for Fanslow, who will play next season at Stanford. A ball-loosening stick check here, a ground ball there or a hard charge up field to start a Dalers fast break. You might miss Fanslow in the boxscore but she was hard to miss on the field.

BRITTANY JENSEN
Bay Shore, Midfielder, Senior
 On varsity since the eighth grade, Jensen had 65 goals and 24 assists this season. Versatile player who excelled regardless of position: in the midfield, on attack or on defense. Sent the Suffolk Class A final against Ward Melville to sudden-death overtime with a clutch goal, a game that sent Bay Shore to its first state appearance since 2001, when Jensen was in eighth grade. Will play at Penn State.

LAUREN LaBELLA
Massapequa, Goalie, Senior
LaBella's 13-save performance in Massapequa's 12-9 victory over Farmingdale in the Nassau Class A title game left observers shaking their heads. Truthfully, the athletic LaBella, who will play next season at Drexel, was doing that most of the season. Did it most of her career, really.

TRACI LANDY
Seaford, Attack, Junior
 If the net could have physically cried out in pain, it would have when the powerful Landy scored. That happened a lot. She followed her 98-goal season from last year with 82 this season. Is one of the Island's top recruits.

KAITLIN LEGGIO
Bay Shore, Midfielder, Senior
Just a monster season as Leggio, on varsity since eighth grade, surpassed her efforts from her junior year when she was selected an All-American honorable mention. Scored 92 goals this season and has 408 career points (250 goals, 158 assists). Beat Ward Melville in the Class A final with a nifty sidearm goal with 48 seconds left. Leggio is headed to Stony Brook, for which the Seawolves should be thankful.

AMANDA LONGOBUCCO
North Shore, Midfielder, Senior
Followed her Newsday hifive! All-Long Island selection a season ago, when she had 65 goals and 39 assists, with another standout season this year. She had 62 goals, best on the team, and 41 assists. Few players covered the field in as smooth a gait as Longobucco, who will play next year at Penn State.

ALI McDONOUGH
Garden City, Defender, Senior
Garden City's fast break often began with the fleet-footed McDonough picking up a ground ball in the defensive end and sprinting up the sideline. Good help defender but also, when called upon, successfully marked the opposition's top scorer. Will play next season at Harvard.

RACHEL RAY
Rocky Point, Midfielder, Senior
The diminutive Ray, just 5-3, was the Island's big scorer this season with 98 goals, same as she scored a season ago. Ray was not one-dimensional as she added 78 assists, helping Rocky Point to the Suffolk Class B championship with an upset of Huntington in the final. Ray will play at Adelphi.

EMILY SCHAKNOWSKI
Shoreham-Wading River, Midfielder, Junior
Starting the year as the best-kept secret in Long Island girls lacrosse, Schaknowski scored 60 goals and added 65 assists this season. As unselfish as they come, her goal total could have been much higher. She's no secret to college coaches, or to anyone else for that matter.

JULIE SCHERER
Manhasset, Midfielder, Senior
The speedy Scherer, who will play at North Carolina, played a bit more in the midfield this season but was still devastating when designated to mark another team's top scorer. Her versatility was evident first in the Nassau Class C final against North Shore when she marked Amanda Longobucco, then scored three goals and added two assists in the Long Island championship win over Shoreham-Wading River.

CAITLIN STRAIN
Garden City, Defender, Senior
Strain, a.k.a. "Straino" to just about everyone, excelled on one of the Island's best defensive units. Strong communicator with a knack for perfectly timed checks to knock the ball from opponents' sticks. Will play at Brown.

SARAH VON BARGEN
Ward Melville, Midfielder, Senior
Von Bargen, headed for New Hampshire, scored 50 goals and added 23 assists this season. Von Bargen, along with teammate Shaylyn Blaney, took over the second half of this year's Suffolk Class A championship game and nearly led the Patriots to an upset of Bay Shore. She is a hard-nosed player who simply hates to lose.

JESSICA WIEGAND
Bay Shore, Midfielder, Senior
Like Leggio and Jensen, Wiegand has been on the varsity since eighth grade. Excellent on ground balls and draws, but also was critical to the three-headed scoring monster that led Bay Shore. She had 61 goals and 20 assists. Wiegand, headed for Cornell, came up big when it mattered most, scoring the game-winner against East Islip in the Suffolk Class A semifinals and sent the county final against Ward Melville into overtime with a goal with 37 seconds left.

COACHES OF THE YEAR
DIANE CHAPMAN
Garden City (18-1)
 Expectations were high for the Trojans coming into the season but Chapman, like John and Allison Pfeffer at Bay Shore, embraced those expectations rather than run away from them. Garden City began the season playing at a high level and maintained it all the way to Cortland and the state Final Four. "Chappy's" steady hand led the way.

JOHN AND ALLISON PFEFFER
Bay Shore (19-0)
 Yes, Bay Shore had the Island's best overall collection of talent and spent much of the season blowing out the opposition. But the most talented team doesn't always win, and the Marauders were tested in the playoffs. First, in a one-goal victory over East Islip in a Suffolk Class A semifinal, then by Ward Melville in a classic final when Bay Shore trailed by two early in the second overtime. There was no panic on the field and, as important, none on the sideline.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

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