Unselfish Hodgson leads West Islip girls lacrosse

Lorraine Hodgson takes charges on the lacrosse field as if she had been taught the technique by Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

In addition to her three goals, the West Islip sophomore took two of the momentum-changing charges Duke has become famous for in the visiting Lions' 13-10 Suffolk Division I victory over Sachem North on Friday afternoon. Both plays led to West Islip scores.

The first, with 20.5 seconds left in the first half, prevented Sachem North from holding for the last shot and left Hodgson with time to score her second goal 9.6 seconds before the break. The second, 42 seconds into the second half, led to Devan Crimi's unassisted goal.

Hodgson's plays didn't appear crucial at the time - Crimi's goal gave the Lions an 8-1 lead - but they proved vital.

After West Islip (11-2) took a 10-1 lead on Casey Sarle's bounce shot, Sachem North (8-5) scored the next six goals to make it a 10-7 game. The Lions' lead could have been greater had they not hit the post twice on the same possession.

"It was mental toughness," Hodgson said of her team's ability to hold on to its lead. "We never look back. We're always looking to the next shot."

West Islip's next shot after Sachem North's run was from none other than Hodgson, who scored off a feed from Katie Rotan with 9:18 to play. Alyssa Costantino (10 saves) deflected a shot off her leg on Sachem North's ensuing possession to keep the lead at four.

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"It's not a good thing because we made an easy game into a hard game," Costantino said. "But we can't dwell on the bad moments."

Added West Islip coach Joe Nicolosi: "Bottom line, we got the win."

And the Lions didn't want to be saddled with a two-game losing streak heading into their regular-season finale Tuesday.

Sachem North has lost three straight and four of five despite Jessica Pandolf's best efforts. The sharpshooting senior scored five of the Flaming Arrows' nine goals in the second half, including the last of three in a stretch of 24 seconds.

Pandolf scored her team's lone first-half goal on a free-position shot.

"She was playing to the game plan; things just weren't working out," Sachem North coach Kevin Krause said of Pandolf's inability to break free early in the game. "I think we were evenly matched, but they came out way stronger and we turned [the ball] over way too many times."

Many of those turnovers were caused by West Islip's hounding defense - and Hodgson taking hits and landing on her behind.

Coach K would be proud.