Kennedy Girls Lacrosse Edged by Plainview

Playing in a rare 10 a.m. game, Kennedy girls lacrosse coach Keri Andre urged her team to wake up as they trailed at the half yesterday, 8-4.

They certainly did just that in the second half, coming out with a renewed intensity. However, their inspired play wasn't enough to put them over the top as they fell to Plainview, 14-13.

In what was a battle of the Kennedys Monday morning, the Bellmore JFK Lady Cougars and Plainview JFK Lady Hawks put forth performances that would have made our nation's 35th president proud. The game remained close from start to finish, but in the end the visiting Lady Hawks showed a little bit more resiliency.

"Overall they played with a lot of heart in the second half," Andre said of her team.  "And that's how we needed them to start in the beginning. But we have a lot to work on and there is still ways to go."

Morgan Kitton scored four goals for the Cougars and Samantha Esposito chipped in three.  Kitton got the game going by scoring the first two goals to give the Cougars an early lead. Esposito would score her first shortly after a Plainview goal, and the Lady Cougars led 3-1.

However, the Lady Hawks would score seven of the next eight goals to end the half, including five goals in a row. Anna Austria scored the first three, and the rest were scored by Minhee Choi, Samantha LaSpina, Momo Yoshida and Stacianne Lester. Sam Rothery scored the goal for the Cougars to head into the half down 8-4.

"In the first half I thought we played well," Austria said. "But in the second half we started to break down a little and that's when [Bellmore JFK] started coming back, so we really had to step it up. But it was a really close game and it could have gone both ways."

Esposito scored her second goal of the game to start the second half. After that, the two teams would go back and forth. Taylor Kruter, Natalie Khouryawad, Brittany Mascaro and Kerri Baum would all score goals for the Cougars. Rothery would also add her second to cut the deficit to 11-10.

After a goal by Plainview, Kitton netted her third goal of the game. However, Kelly Carcich and Heather Fitzpatrick scored back-to-back goals to put the Hawks up 14-11.

The Cougars made one more surge as Esposito scored her third goal and Kitton her fourth with 11 seconds remaining to make it 14-13. But Fitzpatrick won the draw for the Hawks as they ran out the clock to secure the victory.

It was a tale of two halves for the Cougars, who scored nine goals in the second half after scoring just four in the first.

"We need to work on our transitions a little more," Kitton said.  "But I think we showed a little more heart in the second half of the game."

In goal, Alissa Salvaggio made three saves for the Cougars, while the duo of Amanda Schiller and Anna Hong combined to make eight saves for Plainview.

Plainview coach Jeff Salzberg credited his team's excellent decision-making for the victory.

"Possession is the key to this game," Salzberg said. "Not dropping the ball when it's passed to you.  Not forcing passing to players that are covered, and taking care of the ball."

Next up, the Lady Cougars host Long Beach at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday.