Big Win Alert: St. Anthony's tops Manhasset

If you weren’t there or haven’t already heard (shame on you!), St. Anthony’s topped Manhasset, 17-6, in what was the first of many super-hyped matchups this season. That the score was lopsided was a testament to the Friars’ dominance. And depth. And precision... And stuff.

Annige Heagerty scored six goals, Alexis Nicolia and Stephanie Paloscio each added three goals, and Maggie Bill had a goal and three assists to lead St. Anthony’s (2-0).

The Friars went ahead 2-0 early, but Sarah Barcia’s goal with 10:32 left in the first half tied it for Manhasset. St. Anthony’s reclaimed the lead on Darcy Messina’s free-position goal with 7:02 left in the half. Devin O’Connor’s laser into the far corner from about 10 yards right of the cage made it 4-2 at 5:35. The Friars won the ensuing draw, moved quickly downfield, and Chrissy Schreiber scored to push the lead to 3.

The Friars’ defense dominated, seldom allowing open shots and holding Manhasset’s Halle Majorana, an All-American attack, to two goals and an assist. Goalie Tori Holland made seven saves, including two point-blank stops.

And here is some player reaction…

Annie Heagerty, an All-American in her own right, exploded offensively.

Facing Manhasset: “It was very exciting, and we’re grateful for the privilege to play them. We always appreciate competition and a good opponent.”

The excitement and anticipation building before the game: “We were pumped up… Every younger girl has a senior, so we put candy and pump-up quotes in each other’s lockers.”

The Friars pulling away after the score was tied at 2: “We hadn’t played them in two years, so it took a little while to get a feel for how they play. After that, everything started clicking. We really stepped it up after halftime.”

The performance of the defense and the effective double-teams of Majorana: “She’s a friend of mine, and most of us, and we know that she’s an outstanding player. We knew going in she’s someone we’d have to watch out for. But our low defenders did a great job – they can cover anybody, really.”

Will there be any trash talk? “There’ll probably be a little bit. But we’re friends so it’s all good.”

Tori Holland
Assessment of her team’s performance: “It was outstanding. Our defense came out hard, and so did our attacks. We were fired up for this and we played as a team, and it showed.”

Was this game more than just a non-league win in the second game of the season? “Manhasset is a great team and we really get up for games like this. We’ve practiced so hard and it’s exciting to play as well as we did get a big win.”

What does a game like this say about the team? “We lost a lot of players last year, but this shows that everyone can step it up and we’re still really strong.”

Corinne “Not Connie” Lomangino

The victory: “They’re a really good team so this was a big game for us. I’m proud of my kids. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that it’s one big game in a long season, so we’ve still got a lot of wood to chop. (Not literally chopping wood, though. That didn’t turn out too well when the Jaguars tried it.)

Holland and the defense: “Tori played an amazing game and the defense played well all-around against a very good team. And some of the goals we gave up were on free positions… Halle is an awesome player and they did a great job on her.”

Could this group be even better than last year’s team? “I really do believe that.  I think we’re extremely athletic and we’ve got a lot of firepower; a lot of depth. God willing, we’ll go far.”

** And a big shout-out to the Friars manager, Jackie Nugent. She's out injured with a torn MCL and ACL, but was very friendly and extremely helpful with the stats and random info. Thanks again and best wishes for a speedy recovery!