Reilly: Lacrosse title perfect ending at Portledge

Addie Reilly's list of accomplishments reads like some kind of new unknown Internet slang.

There's that IPPSAL girls soccer player of the year award from the fall and the first-time All-WILHMA selection for ice hockey in the winter. And of course there's her current task, trying to lead Portledge to the NYSAIS girls lacrosse championship game for the second straight season.

Life in the alphabet soup of conferences that Portledge plays in requires one to brush up on their shorthand. But Reilly's individual accomplishments on the lacrosse field, those are worth spelling out.

The senior has a Long Island-best 106 goals and 150 points and is on the verge of leading the Island in goals for the second straight season. Those exploits have not gone unnoticed, Reilly has earned a Division I scholarship to Fairfield, where she'll join a recruiting class that includes a couple of girls from L.I. teams who need no introduction, Farmingdale's Melanie Raso and St. Anthony's Kerry Lowth.

How does a player, even one who leads L.I. in scoring, draw attention from Division I schools while playing in a high school that has fewer than 200 students?

"I contacted them," said Reilly, who signed in October. "I didn't want to go too far. I found everything I wanted at Fairfield."

It doesn't hurt that Reilly holds her own on the Yellow Jackets club team with many of L.I.'s best public school players. You need that kind of exposure when you play at a tiny private school with only 43 seniors. But those 43, large for a Portledge class, represent what coach Jon Sandos calls: "the best group of senior athletes ever to come through Portledge."

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- May

In her senior season, Reilly has already been to two championship games, winning in soccer and falling in overtime in ice hockey.

The ability to play for L.I.'s only hockey team played a big factor in Reilly's decision to attend Portledge before her sophomore year. She has never regretted the choice.

"People always ask 'Is that a real school?' " said Reilly, a Locust Valley resident. "I say it's one of the greatest places in the world. It's a small, close-knit community where you can be yourself."

That's Portledge; come for the hockey, stay for the friendships.

Hockey brought her in, but lacrosse is where Reilly will leave her legacy. Reilly comes from a family of lacrosse players, and said on any given day, there'll be someone playing lacrosse in her yard.

But the midfielder, who admits she still gets nervous before each game, struggled to describe the best aspect of her lacrosse game.

Her coach had no such problems. "We all know about her talents," Sandos said. "It's her leadership qualities that are amazing. She truly cares about the success of the team. And If the team needs someone to get in someone's face, she does it."

Reilly forged relationships with her lacrosse mates before soccer season when she was a sophomore. In a school this small, the same girls tend to play everything.

That group will now look to end their careers on a high note. The Panthers (11-2) will likely enter as the top seed when the NYSAIS playoffs begin next week. The sting of last season's close loss is still felt.

"I truly would do anything to get this team a championship," she said. "I can't emphasize how much this team means to me. We're best friends. We all love each other. We're a real team on and off the field."

Next year, Reilly will start a new story with new teammates from bigger schools. But she'll never leave Portledge behind. Fairfield is just a short trip away and Sandos said he's already planning trips for the team to watch. And Reilly may only be on a four-year furlough.

She plans to study history at Fairfield and said she'd like to come back to Portledge to teach and coach the lacrosse team.

"She's coming for my job," said Sandos, who also teaches history. "If she comes back, I'll gladly be the assistant."