McKenna Jacobs rises to the occasion for St. Dominic girls lacrosse

McKenna Jacobs needed a little reassurance from her coaches and teammates.

The sophomore on the St. Dominic girls lacrosse team was set to do something she never had before – or any of her teammates for that matter. Play in a state final.

Fast forward a few hours later and you’d wonder why Jacobs was ever anxious for that stage. She had six goals and three assists to lead St. Dominic past the Nichols School (Buffalo), 13-4, in the state CHSAA ‘A’ final in Buffalo May 22.

“Honestly, I was pretty nervous at first because it just felt so big in the moment,” Jacobs said. “I was talking with my coaches and they just told me to relax, have fun and play like we know how to play.”

St. Dominic (14-3) dominated like it has the majority of the season, en route to its first state title in program history.

“We always call her the silent assassin because she’s a pretty small kid,” coach Christina Esposito said of Jacobs. “She’s so quick and knows how to get in and out, and turn the corner. She’s a very tough girl. You wouldn’t think it, if you saw her.”

Adrianna Mavlios added three goals and two assists, Meg Morrisroe had two goals and 15 draw controls and Eva Trimble had two goals.

Morrisroe just started taking draws last season and quickly picked up the technique. She was face guarded throughout much of the state final, which allowed others to take on a more prominent offensive role. But Morrisroe still made her presence felt on the draws.

“Winning the draw really gives us confidence,” Morrisroe said. “Eva Tremble and McKenna Jacobs always help me and give me confidence there and every time we won it, we would take a step back and start setting up our offense, which really helped us get control.”

Stonewalled

Maya Farnan may only be a freshman, but you’d never guess that based on her performance in her most important varsity game yet. The goalkeeper had eight saves as No. 2 Westhampton defeated No. 1 Comsewogue, 6-5, in double-overtime in the Suffolk Class B final at Newfield High School Wednesday.

Some of those saves came in the game’s most pivotal moments.

Farnan had a diving stop with 1:20 left in the second half to save what seemed to be an easy wrap-around goal and kept the score tied at 5. She followed that with a split save with one minute remaining in the second overtime period.

“That was adrenaline, I don’t even know,” Farnan said. “All I was doing was looking at the ball and knowing it can’t go past me. All I was saying is ‘You got this, you need to do this for your seniors and your team.’”

One of those seniors was Olivia Rongo, who scored three goals and had high praise for Farnan.

“Maya saved us,” Rongo said. “She is an incredible goalie. We knew how good she was since the day we stepped on the field. We’ve all been waiting for her to step on the field on varsity for some time now.”

Strength in numbers

How many county championship-winning teams have only one player record more than two points and only two players record more than one point?

Safe to say not many.

But you can put Bayport-Blue Point in that category. And that’s exactly how the Phantoms like to play.

Top-seeded Bayport-Blue Point had eight different players record points in its 10-6 victory over No. 3 Shoreham-Wading River in the Suffolk Class C final at Newfield Wednesday.

The Phantoms utilized a balanced offense similar to throughout the season with Mikaela Mooney scoring four goals and Haydin Eisfeld adding a goal and an assist as the only player other than Mooney to record multiple points.

“We definitely share the ball,” coach Ryan Gick said. “You look at our stats line, no one jumps off, it’s seven kids playing a team game and that’s always been our way and always will be our way. Sharing the rock and playing smart lacrosse.”