Farmingdale wins fifth straight Nassau 'A' title

Hofstra is nine miles from Farmingdale, a straight line down Hempstead Turnpike. In recent years the regular-season journey there has mirrored this for the Farmingdale girls lacrosse team.

But as anyone who has attempted the trip knows, it's not always so easy. With traffic, detours and potholes, often it's smarter just to go down to the Southern State Parkway. Sometimes you have to change the route completely.

But the destination remains the same. Senior attack Alyssa Cardillo lifted the championship plaque and Farmingdale celebrated its fifth straight Nassau Class A title with a 16-5 win over Massapequa last night at Hofstra.

"We had to fight much harder this year," said Cardillo, who had a goal and two assists. "I'm happy just to bring the title back home."

Farmingdale (12-4) scored nine of the game's first 10 goals. The Dalers got multi-point games from Cardillo, Maegan Meritz (three goals, one assist), Jamie Leone (three goals), Kim Kolodny (three goals), Melanie Raso (one goal, two assists), Krislyn Engelke (two goals) and Kelly McPartland (two assists). Kelsey O'Brien led Massapequa (7-10) with two goals.

The year after was tough for Farmingdale, which in 2009 went unbeaten en route to the school's first state championship.

"Without a doubt we knew we'd be back here," Cardillo said. "We learned to lose as a team. When you do that losses don't count . . . I guess we're bred to be winners."

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"It's been a long season,'' Farmingdale coach Shari Campbell said. "We've had emotional ups and downs. I'm exhausted. But it was well worth it."

And of course, in this season, even a 16-5 victory wasn't going to be easy. Thunderstorms caused delays of almost two hours.

"This was definitely the longest lacrosse game of my life,'' Raso said.

To speed the game along, Farmingdale took a 12-2 lead before halftime, giving it the required 10-goal lead to put the game into running time. Alex Gurecki stifled Massapequa's attack with 11 saves.

Farmingdale will play the winner of today's Northport/Bay Shore game in the Long Island championship noon on Sunday at Dowling.

"We have a big game ahead of us," Raso said. "We're where we want to be."