Eagles Rally From Eight Down, Fall in Sudden Death to Shoreham-Wading River

Rocky Point girl’s lacrosse fought back from an eight goal deficit with just over eight minutes remaining in the game and forced rival Shoreham-Wading River to overtime, but fell just short of completing the comeback, falling 16-15 in sudden death.

Senior Marissa Kluber scored her fifth goal of the game with 2:32 remaining in the fourth overtime to secure the win for the Wildcats. The loss ends the careers of Rocky Point midfielders Caitlin Gargan and Jessica Hassett, who combined for 10 of their team's 15 goals.

“I think we outplayed them in the second half to come back from seven to force overtime,” Rocky Point head coach Jen Fucich said. “I think we outplayed them but in sudden death that’s the way it goes.”

The Wildcats went up 15-8 with 13:08 left in the game and goalie Lauren Daly made two of her 15 total saves over the next few minutes to keep the Eagles at bay. But Jessica Hassett scored with 8:09 remaining to cut the deficit to 15-9 and spur a comeback.

Gargan got her team within one goal when she scored three consecutive goals over a three minute span beginning at 4:19.

“I wasn’t really nervous until I looked at the clock and there was 1:18 left,” Shoreham head coach Mary Bergmann said. “We were still up by one and I thought we could go into a stall and hold it but we made a mistake and they wound up getting it back.”

With just 21 seconds remaining on the clock Hassett was able to beat Daly and send it to overtime.

The Eagles controlled the ball in the first overtime but were unable to come up with any scoring chances. Late in the second overtime Daly denied Alyssa Milano from close range and Gargan had a goal waved off due to an offensive charge. Gargan had another golden chance on a fast break but missed wide before Kluber finally ended it in the fourth OT period for the Wildcats.

“It was a good feeling,” Gargan said about leading the comeback. “When our Rocky Point team comes into the playoffs we channel a nasty 'you’re not going to beat us' attitude. We played with our classic attitude once we needed it and channeled that and were able to do something with it finally.”

Unfortunately for the Eagles it came up just short.

“In sudden death I was having a heart attack,” Bergmann said. “All you needed was one drive from Gargan down the field and it could have been the end of the game.”

“I’ve said from the beginning, that girl is a leader on and off the field and she knows what it takes,” Fucich said about Gargan. “She will be very successful at Notre Dame.”

But looking ahead to her college career was not something Gargan was willing to do just yet.

“It’s bitter, when we enter the playoffs we’re going for it all,” she said. “We’re not happy to get into the playoffs; we want to win playoff games. It felt bitter. It’s a bitter taste.”