Fortunato leads Northport to 'A' title

Cortney Fortunato is skilled enough to play in a phone booth, so when the Northport midfielder has wide open space to operate the end result almost always ends well for the Tigers.

"If there's an open player that's ahead of me or has a better angle than me I'll always give it up," Fortunato said. "If there's open space . . . I'm just looking to go to the net."

Fortunato and Paige Bonomi each had four goals and an assist, Kiera McNally had four goals and freshman Allie Pavinelli had three goals and an assist to lead No. 1 Northport over No. 2 Bay Shore, 19-8, in the Suffolk Class A girls lacrosse final Thursday at Dowling Sports Complex. Northport (17-2) earned its 11th county title and avenged its loss to Bay Shore in last year's final.

The Tigers will play Farmingdale (16-1) in the Long Island Class A championship at 8 p.m. Saturday at Hofstra.

Fortunato showcased her athleticism as she went coast-to-coast to score with 4:59 left in the first half. She also demonstrated her speed, turning on the afterburners as she ran straight down the middle of the field and scored a goal with 14:38 left in the second half.

"Pavinelli and Paige Bonomi I thought were warriors," Northport coach Carol Rose said. "They're not afraid to play in the big games. We know we're not one-dimensional."

The Tigers needed numerous players to step up because All-American Shannon Gilroy was playing hurt. Gilroy said she suffered a "severe Grade 1 sprain" to her right ankle playing in a scrimmage for the U.S. Women's U-19 national team on Saturday and had not practiced with Northport since.

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk 'A' final: Northport 19, Bay Shore 8

"I had my mindset of playing [in this game] on Monday or Tuesday but I tried to keep it a secret from my teammates," said Gilroy who had two goals and an assist with a heavily taped ankle in a brace. "They thought they were going to play without me and I thought it would be inspirational if I came back the day of."

Northport trailed 3-1 early on, but used a 10-0 run to take an 11-3 lead early in the second half. Caroline deLyra had three goals for Bay Shore (15-4).