Gersbeck's goals spur SWR to win over Manhasset

Cue up the "One Tree Hill" DVDs.

Watching multiple episodes of the popular teen show on the bus trip to Cortland is one of the long-standing traditions for the Shoreham-Wading River girls lacrosse team. The last three trips resulted in state titles, so it would be silly to tinker with that tradition now.

The Wildcats earned yet another trip upstate by continuing another habit - beating Manhasset in the Long Island Class C championship game. SWR got three goals and an assist from Megan Gersbeck en route to an 11-9 win over Manhasset last night at the Dowling Sports Complex.

It was the Wildcats' fifth straight Long Island title, all coming against the Indians.

"I think Manhasset's always in the back of our head," said Gersbeck, a senior who's been a part of all three state titles. "We know they're an amazing team. When we found out that we'd be playing them, we had to step up our game."

SWR (17-2) is the only Class C team Manhasset (16-2) has lost to in the past four seasons, and the Indians' only other loss this year was to still-unbeaten Garden City.

"This is a great surprise," SWR coach Bob Vlahakis said. "It's a great Manhasset team. This was probably the one I was least sure of."

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- June

The Wildcats will play Honeoye Falls-Lima of Section V, the team they beat in last year's state final, at 2:30 p.m. Friday at SUNY Cortland.

Sunday, they bolted out to a 3-0 lead in the first 5:22 on goals by Codi Mullen, Kate Boden and Gersbeck. That was surprising since all 15 goals in their Suffolk final win over Bayport-Blue Point on Wednesday night were scored by the trio of Kait Brosco (six), Chelsey Newman (five) and Jen DeVito (four).

Eight different SWR players scored a goal Sunday.

"This team had to prove that we could do that," said Vlahakis, who was unsure after the game if Brosco and Newman even scored (for the record, Brosco scored on two free positions, and Newman scored her goal on another). "Those other girls picked up the slack."

Halle Majorana scored three of her game-high five goals in a four-goal run that put Manhasset ahead 4-3. But SWR scored seven of the next eight goals, including a sweet one-timer from Gersbeck to Alyssa Pearce to give them a 5-4 lead.

Majorana scored twice in the final 1:30 to make it a two-goal game, but by then, SWR was already picking out episodes for the bus ride.