The Lady Lions quest for a league championship ended Wednesday with a heart-breaking loss to the Bay Shore Marauders 10-9. The Suffolk County Class A semifinal was a rematch of last year's county semifinal where West Islip emerged victorious after an 11-7 win.
"Bay Shore is our biggest rival," said West Islip senior goaltender Alyssa Costantino, who is bound for Syracuse University. "We played with so much emotion and energy."
Costantino made some big saves in the first half to keep the Lions in the game. "She is an All-American goalie in my eyes," said West Islip coach Joe Nicolosi.
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After the Lady Lions took an early 2-0 lead, the Marauders held West Islip in check and pulled ahead to take a 3-2 halftime lead.
Bay Shore came out firing early in the second half to widen their lead. But, junior Casey McGowan scored for the Lady Lions with seniors Stefani Jackson and Katie Rotan cutting the Marauders lead to 6-5 with just 12 minutes left.
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Bay Shore then mimicked the Lady Lions scoring attack to widen its lead to 8-5. But the Lady Lions would stay in the game and ultimately tie the score at nine. "There is always one thing taught here, mental toughness," said Costantino.
With three minutes left, one of Bay Shore's top scorers, Shelby Vaccaro, would score what proved to be the game-winning goal. Although the Lady Lions mounted pressure with time running out, West Islip would fail to send the game into overtime.
"We went to the county finals last year. The seniors wanted to keep the streak going and beat (top-seeded) Northport," said McGowan.
"We couldn't get over that hump,"Nicolosi said. "The game came down to the wire and the girls fought hard."
