Lady Colts Battle Back, But Fall Short Against Cold Spring Harbor

Trailing 8-1 late in the first half, the Calhoun High girls lacrosse team was in danger of being blown out by Cold Spring Harbor yesterday.

The Lady Colts battled back to cut the seven goal deficit to as little as two, but just could not overcome that final hurdle, losing to the visiting Lady Seahawks, 13-10.

After trailing 8-1, the Colts trimmed the lead to 11-9 with three and a half minutes remaining. Cold Spring Harbor, however, did not fold as the Seahawks held on for the win.

They may have lost, but Calhoun coach James Raucci was proud of the way his team battled back.

"We started off real flat and I think we were a little intimidated," Raucci said. "But I think in the second half the girls showed a lot of resolve and got back in the game. At one point I thought Cold Spring Harbor was really going to take it to us. But I think next game they have to come out and be ready to play from the start."

Calhoun got off to a fast start and scored the first goal of the game off the stick of Erin Green, but after that it was all Cold Spring Harbor. The Seahawks would score eight straight goals in a fifteen minute span.

Of the eight goals, two were scored by Victoria Kotowski, two by Claire Switala, two by Kelly Sherlock, and one each by Teresa Vasallo and Liz Ludlow.

After that, Raucci would call a timeout to try and fire up the team after the disappointing start. It appeared to have worked, as the Colts finished the half strong with two consecutive goals by Rachel Tyson and Megan O'Sullivan. Calhoun trailed at the half, 8-3.

After a Cold Spring Harbor goal, Ava Fitzgerald and Diandra Hanna scored for the Colts to cut the deficit to four. The Seahawks scored two more, but Calhoun came roaring back with four straight goals courtesy of O'Sullivan, Hanna, Katie Berghorn and Jessica Silverman. That made the score 11-9. However, Cold Spring Harbor would score two more goals to effectively end the game.

O'Sullivan led Calhoun with three goals, and the goaltending duo of Kacey Solotoff and Hayley Solomon combined to make seven saves. Vasallo and Switala led Cold Spring Harbor with three goals apiece, while goaltender Coleen Nofi stopped 11 shots.

"I thought our team played really well," Switala said. "It was tough with ground balls because of the wet playing surface, but we passed well and I thought we took really good shots."

Danielle Skakandi, the Cold Spring Harbor coach, said she was pleased with her team's resilience.

"It was definitely a well fought battle," Skakandi said. "Calhoun is a tough team. We came out strong in the beginning,  made great decisions on offense and were able to put away some great shots. We were a little weak on ground balls but we dominated the draw control which really helped us to be successful today."

The Lady Colts may have lost, but they were not down at the end of the game.

"The past few years when we've we played Cold Spring Harbor we've had really good games," Ellie Rosenblum said. "But we started out slow, and the poor officiating didn't help. But we'll come back and play better next time."

The Lady Colts will look to rebound when they host Oceanside next Wednesday.