Northport claims Class A crown in 2OT

CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Shannon Gilroy has long had the goal of winning a state championship and she did everything she could Saturday to make sure that happened.

Gilroy put Northport ahead 25 seconds into the first overtime period to give the Tigers their first lead in more than 42 minutes. Gilroy took a hard fall after the goal, was down for several minutes and was carried off the field.

"I felt a pop," Gilroy said. "I heard my knee, then I hurt it really bad when I went down."

Cortney Fortunato scored on a free position with 1.3 seconds left to win the game for Northport, 11-10, over Pittsford in a double-overtime Class A girls lacrosse final at SUNY-Cortland.

Northport (20-2) had a 10-8 lead after the first overtime period, thanks to Allie Breitfeller's goal with 0.7 seconds left in the period. The Panthers rallied in the second overtime and tied the game at 10 on a sharp-angle goal by Devon Collins with 47.7 seconds left.

Gilroy tied the game with 58.2 seconds left in regulation after spinning around her defender and sprinting more than 20 yards to the goal, whizzing a shot past Pittsford goalie Jaclyn Fraum.

"I knew from that point on that we were going to win the game," Gilroy said. "Nobody was going to let us down."

Gilroy had four goals and Fortunato had two goals and an assist to deliver Northport its first state title in wild fashion. The game was played for 68 seconds before a nearly three-hour delay because of lightning and thunder. Play was halted a second time, for an hour and 29 minutes, with Northport trailing Pittsford 8-6 with 8:18 left in regulation.

Northport coaches broke down the game video and showed it to the team during the second delay. Gilroy admitted to having pessimistic thoughts during the second delay but was confident they could make the comeback.

"I did not come here, our team didn't come here to play through this and lose and give up," she said. "We're all warriors and we played really well together."

Northport's Megan Marinelli, who was named tournament MVP, scored one minute into the game before the initial delay of 2 hours, 54 minutes. When play resumed, the Tigers appeared slow and were being outhustled by the Panthers to nearly every ground ball in Northport's end of the field.

Northport goalie Michaela Aymong made a pair of kick saves before Pittsford scored three straight goals in a span of less than four minutes, prompting Northport to call a timeout.

The message from coach Carol Rose did not resonate at first but moments later, she challenged Gilroy and "The Franchise" responded.

"Come on, Gilroy, get in the game!" Rose screamed.

An errant Pittsford pass led to a ground ball in front of Gilroy just inside Northport's 30-yard line. The Florida-bound attack scooped up the loose ball and ran more than 60 yards with two defenders unable to keep up with her.

Gilroy made a knee-buckling move on the right side of the 12-meter, faking out her defender so skillfully that she fell over. Gilroy ran left across the 8-meter and bounced in a shot just inside the right post for her first goal of the game.

The Tigers pulled even a minute later when Paige Bonomi scored off a nice crossing pass from Fortunato.

The teams were tied at 5 at halftime, thanks to a late goal by Erin Magnuson, who returned to the Tigers' lineup after serving a two-game suspension for receiving a red card in the Suffolk final.

The Panthers took command in the early going of the second half, scoring three straight goals before Gilroy scored her second of the game with 10:36 left.

Alison Curwin had three goals and two assists, Devon Collins had two goals and an assist and Stephanie Spoto two goals for Pittsford (21-1).