Bayport-Blue Point shows balance in victory over Sayville
Bayport-Blue Point defender Madison Weybrecht grabs the loose ball and heads upfield against host Sayville on Monday in a Suffolk Division II lacrosse game. Credit: George A Faella
The Bayport-Blue Point girls lacrosse team embraces a strength-in-numbers mentality. And this can give opposing coaches nightmares.
The Phantoms don’t have just one or two prominent players they run their offense through. It’s everybody on the field. Take away one player, another emerges.
“We’re a by-committee type of offense,” coach Ryan Gick said. “There’s no one player we are running through. It’s not one person I’ll tell you to watch, there’s seven kids and to me, that’s a dangerous team.”
Bayport-Blue Point demonstrated that again with an 11-8 victory over Sayville at Greeley Avenue Field on Monday. The Phantoms had eight goal-scorers, with Haydin Eisfeld, Aubrie Eisfeld and Mikaela Mooney each leading the total with two goals.
“We move the ball around and try to find [the opponent’s] weaknesses,” said Keira Rooney, who had a goal and an assist. “We have so much talent everywhere. They don’t know who to guard on each play.”
Rooney scored a free-position goal with 14:05 remaining in the second half to give Bayport-Blue Point a 6-5 lead, the first of three unanswered goals for the team. Rooney, a junior committed to play at Florida, enjoys knowing that there are playmakers all over the field.
“I love it because the pressure isn’t all on you,” she said. “You can pass it around and spread it around.”
Bayport-Blue Point (3-0) opened an 11-6 lead with 3:59 remaining in the second half as the Phantoms outscored Sayville 6-2 in the first 19 minutes of the second half.
Natalee Frabizio added a goal and two assists and Katie Clare had a goal and three draw controls in the win. Ally Reilly and Brigid Manning each had three goals for Sayville (3-1).
The Bayport-Blue Point defense, including Madison Weybrecht, Emma Brown, Christine Dannenfelser and Tessa Orgonas, played a key role in slowing a strong Sayville offense the majority of the game.
“We have a really good relationship with each other,” Weybrecht said. “We think defense wins championships and we just work together to do our best.”
“We do rely on our defense to be our backbone,” Gick said. “And usually our offense flows off that.”
Bayport-Blue Point is coming off a 17-0 season, including winning its first Long Island title after defeating Manhasset, 6-5, in the Class C final. There were no state championships last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Phantoms hope to take their season even further this spring.
“Every year the goal is the same,” Gick said. “I think this group is still trying to figure out their identity. We lost three good leaders last season and we have a good leadership group this year. I think we are just trying to figure out who we are.”
