Kellenberg finally answers Sacred Heart

As far as regular-season wins go, this one was about as big as it gets for the Kellenberg girls lacrosse team.

Sacred Heart has ended Kellenberg’s season the last two years, and coach Anne Masiulis said she doesn’t think the Firebirds have a win against Sacred Heart since 2015.

Until Monday when Kellenberg defeated Sacred Heart, 6-5. Katelyn Rogan scored the winning goal to break a tie at 5 with 9:30 remaining in the second half and Kellenberg was able to hold off Sacred Heart until the final whistle.

"It was huge," Masiulis said. "Looking back over years, we’ve fallen short to them and it’s usually a good, competitive game but we’re always on the short end of the stick, no pun intended."

Olivia Cruthers, who has 33 goals and seven assists in Kellenberg’s 6-4 start, had four goals against the Spartans.

"She just has such a great game sense and she has a really high IQ and she knows how to talk the attack through what they should be doing or how they should be moving," Masiulis said. "She took five shots on goal and got four of them in. You can’t really say much more."

With the playoffs fastly approaching in the CHSAA, Kellenberg hopes to carry its momentum from Monday’s victory for the chance to play for a league title.

"It’s a tremendous confidence booster," Masiulis said. "I’ve felt like this team was a very special team from the start, but we’ve had ups and downs throughout the season. And I feel like they finally put together a complete game from start to finish and to win and to win at home, there are no words to describe it. The girls were over the moon."

Stanley’s superior start

Juliana Stanley ranks near the top of the Nassau scoring leaders, and she has two double-digit scoring games to help make that possible.

The Division junior attack had nine goals and three assists in a 15-9 victory over MacArthur May 18 and seven goals and three assists in a 17-3 victory over Jericho May 12. Stanley had 47 goals and 13 assists through Thursday, ranking fifth in Nassau in scoring, according to scores reported to Newsday.

She has been at the forefront of Division’s 8-2 start in Nassau Conference III. Stanley recently had six goals and an assist in a 10-3 victory over Hewlett, featuring Nassau’s leading scorer in Mia Perkell (57 goals, 24 assists).

"Juliana is a tremendously talented player with a superior lacrosse IQ," coach Sean Donnellan said. "She is always the best offensive player on the field. Offensively she can not be stopped and she has the ability to take over a game no matter what the other team throws at her."

Moments of the week

Hannorah Ragusa made one of her 11 saves with one second left in a 7-6 win for Connetquot over Commack …Alexa Preston scored with 38 seconds left in overtime for a 5-4 win for Longwood over Floyd … Erin Schaefer found Brooke Hoss for the winning goal in an 8-7 win for Sayville over Shoreham-Wading River … Floral Park’s Erin Harkins had 14 goals and eight assists in two victories over Jericho. She has 51 goals and 20 assists this season.