Kennedy Girls Lacrosse Falters in Second Half Against Lynbrook

The Kennedy Lady Cougars lacrosse team went into their Saturday afternoon match up at Lynbrook with a perfect 5-0 record to start the season.

However, after an opening game loss to Seaford, the Lady Owls (4-1) have gone on a tear and continued their winning streak with a 17-8 victory over the Lady Cougars (5-1).

Kasey Carter led Lynbrook with five goals and an assist and Julie Wigand added four goals and an assist. Morgan Kitton led Kennedy with four goals and two assists in the loss.

Lynbrook got off to a strong start, leading 6-1 midway through the first half, but Kennedy came back with three consecutive goals to get within two.

With 10 seconds left, Adrienne Germanakos scored a goal for Lynbrook, but Kitton took the ensuing faceoff and charged down the field to score a goal of her own at the halftime buzzer to bring the score to 8-7.

Looking for a similar start in the second half as they had in the first, the Lady Owls scored two goals in the first minutes from Carter and Chandley Borges, followed by a fourth goal from Carter just minutes later.

The game would turn in the wrong direction for the visiting Lady Cougars as they put up just a single goal from Kitton in the second half, compared with nine for the Owls.

With the win, Lynbrook remained undefeated in league play and handed Kennedy its first loss of the season.

"Today we were missing quite a number of starters, so we were trying to focus on protecting the ball and not throwing it away, but we knew they were a strong team," Kennedy head coach Kerri Andree said. "With being shorthanded, we were trying to compensate on defense, but it was just tough today."

Heroes: Kasey Carter put in a game-high five goals and six points in total. The season-high in goals brought her total to 15 on the year.

Despite Kennedy's first loss of the season, Kitton continued her hot start to the season and now has 25 goals in just six games.

Turning Point: Coming out of halftime with a one-goal game, the last 25 minutes could have gone either way. The first five minutes of the second half set the tone the rest of the way to carry the Lady Owls to the big league win.

Quotable: "We are starting to come together and play our style. The first game, we were a little rough and everyone was still getting a feel for the season," Lynbrook head coach Vinny Tetro said. "We have really put it together now. We were calm with the ball and didn't turn it over here."

Bottom Line: Lynbrook and Kennedy are major contenders in Conference B-II, which looks to be amongst the most competitive leagues in Nassau County. Six of the seven teams, including these two teams, Bethpage, Roslyn, Hewlett and Mepham, have at least four wins thus far and the seventh, New Hyde Park, is not far behind.

Key Stat: Despite 12 saves from Kennedy goalie Lee Kraut, Lynbrook had far more opportunities in the game, helping them outscore Kennedy by eight in the second half.

Who’s Next: Kennedy vs. Jericho, April 12, 4:30 p.m.; Lynbrook vs. Plainedge, April 11, 4:30 p.m.

Box Score:

Goals-Assists: K: Kitton 4-2, S.Rothery 2-0, Baum 1-1, Klein 1-0. Totals: 8-3. L: Carter 5-1, Wigand 4-1, Germanakos 2-0, Borges 2-0, Simeone 1-1, Feltkamp 1-1, Regan 1-0, Cohn 1-0. Totals: 17-4. Goalies: K: Kraut- 12 saves, L: S.Chyriwski- 7 saves.