Kaelynn O'Brien, Mimi Berkowitz help Lynbrook girls lacrosse win 13th in row

Amidst a prolonged winning streak, many teams will oftentimes emphasize the need to remain as even-keeled as possible.

But don’t tell that to the Lynbrook girls lacrosse team.

Kaelynn O’Brien scored three goals and Mimi Berkowitz added two goals as Lynbrook defeated Oceanside at home on Saturday afternoon, 8-6, in Nassau II to close out the regular season with 13 consecutive victories after dropping their first two games.

O’Brien said the key to Lynbrook’s nearly season-long stretch of success has been elevating the energy entering every contest.

“Every game we try to get more and more hyped up,” O’Brien said. “But today was especially helpful because we needed to be exceptionally hyped since it was our last game to get to 13.”

O’Brien netted each of Lynbrook’s opening three goals, and put the Owls ahead for good with 13:10 to go in the first half after breaking a tie at 2.

Lynbrook (7-2) then proceeded to score another five unanswered goals and entered halftime with an 8-2 advantage as both teams battled through difficult conditions throughout the day. Berkowitz scored two of the three, and capped off the run with 1:12 left in the half.

“It was huge,” Lynbrook coach Vincent Tetro said. “They needed to know that they could beat this defense. Coming in we knew how good they were. So getting that confidence of knowing that we could score on this different type of zone defense we haven’t seen all year, was exactly what we needed.”

Oceanside (5-4) put together a stout defensive effort in the second half, shutting out Lynbrook the rest of the way. Cassidy Reicherter followed up a pair of Oceanside goals earlier in the half to bring the Sailors to within 8-5 with 3:11 remaining.

Lily Johnson’s goal a minute later cut the deficit to 2 before Lynbrook held Oceanside off over the final two minutes to secure the victory, with Drue Marchetta recording a total of 10 saves for the Owls.

As Lynbrook now prepares for the playoffs, Berkowitz said the team’s extended run of success has boiled down to a combination of factors, including the ability to maximize their focus in critical moments.

“It’s all of our team chemistry,” Berkowitz said. “When we’re all close with each other, it makes it so easy to play together. We know where everyone’s going to be, we know how to work well together. And we know how to fool around a lot but when it gets down to the important things, we lock down and we’re ready to go.”