Sachem East wins LI Class A title
Sachem East's Katie Trombetta scored two goals in her team's 6-1 victory over Massapequa for the Long Island Class A field hockey championship. (Nov. 12, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Sachem East’s checklist for this week may look something like this:
· Rest up
· Receive treatment for any aches and bruises
· Make travel arrangements
· Warm up the vocal chords
The Flaming Arrows earned their first trip to the field hockey state tournament with yesterday’s 6-1 thumping of Massapequa in the Class A Long Island championship at Stony Brook. And the plans for that 330-mile bus ride to Cicero-North Syracuse for Saturday's state semifinals, naturally, involves lots of karaoke.
“We’re gonna be singing the whole way,” said senior Jessica Caruana, the team’s designated DJ, who’ll be loading a mixtape with country music. “The good stuff: some Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Chris Young.”
In order for that to be, there first was this: Katie Trombetta had two goals and an assist and Karyn Ryan added three assists to lead Sachem East (19-1), which had captured its first county title last Thursday.
“This is all new to us so we’re ecstatic,” said defender Pamela Emengo, who was named all-tournament. “We’ve had it in our minds all year: States!”
Massapequa (12-3) went ahead on Lena Pollich’s goal 1:44 in, but Trombetta answered with two long-distance strikes off penalty corners. Her second goal, with 14:22 remaining in the first half, was a bullet from the left arc of the circle into the left corner.
“That’s one of our corner plays,” Trombetta said of the goals on shots from way yonder. “It’s usually from a little bit closer in, but when I got the ball, I was kind of anxious to shoot it.”
The Flaming Arrows led 4-1 at halftime, and Caruana and Emily Corchia added second-half goals.
“This is surreal,” Sachem East coach Tina Moon said. “I’m still wrapping my mind around being county champs, but I had no doubt we’d play well. They wanted it bad and it showed.”
Oh, and if anyone is curious: The coach plans to join in on the singing, and she’ll be working on her southern twang in preparation. “Caruana is a girl from the 60s, 70s and 80s. She’s a girl like me; old school and she knows her music.”
Samantha Alvino (three saves) and Jordan Miller (two) combined in goal for the Flaming Arrows. Jackie Harrison made 12 saves for Massapequa, the three-time defending Nassau champs.
The Chiefs have reached the Long Island Championship in four of the last five seasons but fell short each time. What does a coach say to allay the disappointment? “I tell them that we’re Nassau champs,” Barbara Lowell said. “We weren’t as successful as we’d hoped [Saturday], but when you win a championship, you can’t say it wasn’t a good season.”
For Sachem East, a team on the rise for three years, this season has been a fulfillment of their talent’s promise.
“We’ve been on a mission to show everyone we’re No. 1,” Trombetta said. “Now we’ve got some hardware to prove it.”
And if the screaming after the final whistle was any indication, they may also have the pipes to croon it.
