Gilroy, Northport girls win LI A crown

Before taking the field, the Northport girls lacrosse team huddled up tight, sticks waving, and kicked off the pregame cheer. "What time is it? Game time," they screamed. "What time is it? Our time!"

And the Tigers would attest -- it's about time.

Shannon Gilroy scored four goals, and Cortney Fortunato and Megan Marinelli each added three as Northport defeated Farmingdale, 14-7, Saturday night at Hofstra to capture the Long Island Class A championship. Northport earned its first trip upstate since 2004 and will compete in the state semifinals at SUNY-Cortland on Friday.

"I expected a one- or two-goal difference," Gilroy said. "But the fact that we dominated shows how good we can be."

As well, the Tigers avenged some heartbreaks of years past.

Farmingdale, the two-time defending state champ, had knocked off Northport three times -- most recently in 2009 -- en route to five straight Long Island titles. The teams' last two meetings in the championship had resulted in one-goal defeats for the Tigers.

"Losing twice to them the way we did, it's a terrible feeling," Gilroy said. "We weren't going to go home on the bus crying again."

Adding to their glee of finally overcoming, Northport did it without two of its starting midfielders. Mary Pat Theofield injured a knee in the Suffolk final on Thursday, and Erin Magnuson, who incurred a red card in that game, served the first of a two-game suspension. As well, Gilroy, whom teammates and fans have taken to calling "The Bionic Woman" because of her injury history, was playing on a sprained right ankle she hurt last week in a scrimmage with the U-19 national team.

"The girls stepped up," Tigers coach Carol Rose said of the team's dominance despite being short-handed. "Nothing was going to stop them. They came in so excited. They've been fired up for this game from the beginning of the season."

And not long after the players' pregame chants ended, the ones from the Northport supporters picked up as Kiera McNally scored just 1:28 into the game. Kim Kolodny tied it for the Dalers at 21:32, but Fortunato's goal retook the lead at 20:11.

"Farmingdale has been in the backs of our minds," Marinelli, a senior, said. "How we lost to them my freshman and sophomore year by one. We do so much conditioning, and it's tough running that much, but this was our motivation during all that."

The Tigers (18-2) went up 4-1 on Paige Bonomi's goal at 13:41. Farmingdale rallied and pulled within 5-4 on Nadine Hadnagy's goal at 7:16 of the first half, but the Tigers regained control early in the second half and pulled away. McNally's goal with 52 seconds remaining created the final margin.

The Dalers, who entered averaging over 17 goals per game, were held to a season-low by the Tigers' stifling defense, in particular Marinelli, a natural defender who Saturday night did double duty in the midfield. Michaela Aymong made eight saves in the win.

"We just wanted it so bad and they played with such intensity," Rose said of her defense.

Kolodny had two goals and an assist for Farmingdale (16-2). Krislyn Engelke and Hadnagy each added two goals, and Alex Gurecki made 12 saves.

"The seniors, all they have been is winners," Dalers coach Shari Campbell said, reflecting on her team's run of success. "When they came in as seventh graders, we said, 'Look out for this group. They're going to change the history of this program.' And that's what they did."

The Tigers, though, are looking to the near future.

"My expectation is to win the whole thing," Gilroy said of the state tournament. "We've made it this far and we're not going to back down now."