Madison Taylor #4 of Wantagh, center, celebrates her 200th varsity...

Madison Taylor #4 of Wantagh, center, celebrates her 200th varsity point with teammates Madison Alaimo #13, left, and Eva Ingrilli #34 after their team's 11-9 win over South Side in a Nassau County Conference I girls lacrosse game at Wantagh High School on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Credit: James Escher

Madison Taylor is plenty used to assisting others. On Thursday, she needed her teammates’ help in a major way following Wantagh's victory.

Taylor recorded her 200th varsity point as a part of host Wantagh’s 11-9 win over South Side in a Nassau Conference I girls lacrosse game. But as howling winds made it nearly impossible for Taylor to pose with large gold “200” balloons to celebrate the achievement, teammates Madison Alaimo and Eva Ingrilli — two instrumental parts of Taylor's and the team’s success — came to her side to help hold them still. 

“Honestly, I never thought I’d do this,” Taylor said. “I never really thought about it but for it to actually happen is just amazing.”

Taylor, a senior midfielder, recorded her 200th point on an assist to Alaimo for her second point of the contest. Taylor, committed to play at Northwestern, finished with three goals and an assist and has 202 varsity points.

“This means a lot to me,” Taylor said. “I feel like I’ve worked really hard for this and I credit my teammates for helping me be unselfish and get me to this point. This was because of us working together.”

Taylor, who began playing varsity lacrosse as a freshman, reached 200 points despite losing her sophomore season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She had 56 goals and 27 assists in an All-Long Island and All-American season last year.

“She’s just the best athlete on the field at all times,” coach Robyn Rooney said. “She’s a spectacular force on every end of the ball. You can’t guard her, you can’t stop her, you can’t take away her draw abilities, you can’t score on her. She’s just everywhere.”

Alaimo had three goals and two assists, including scoring Wantagh’s final two goals. After South Side’s Avery Testa’s goal tied the score at 9 with 6:39 left in the second half, Alaimo scored with 5:44 left in the contest. She added her final goal 65 seconds later.

“I saw the defender slide too early and there was an open lane for a lefty shot,” Alaimo said. “It was very big because they were coming back and had the momentum. [We needed] to take it away from them.”

South Side (2-5) scored six of the first eight goals of the second half, erasing a 7-3 halftime deficit to tie the score at 9. Wantagh’s Lauren Rochel made two key saves on free position shots over the final two minutes to hold the two-goal advantage.

Taylor added 10 draw controls and Ingrilli and Julia Nicholson each had two goals. Testa had four goals and Mackenzie Creagh had 19 saves for South Side.

“I love games like this,” Taylor said. “It makes the game so much more exciting and we really worked together at the end.”

On the balloons, too.

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