Empire State Games Roundup: Girls Lacrosse Falters Offensively

Heading into the 2010 Empire State Games in the Buffalo/Niagara area, the members of the Hudson Valley girls lacrosse team were a pretty accurate depiction of the Walking Wounded.      

The bruised-up, black-and-blue pocked squad was nursing a plethora of injuries. Players pegged to shoulder significant roles fell ill. The team played with four alternates.  

The alarming number of injuries and sudden call-ups seemed unheard of to Hudson Valley coach John Callanan.  

Despite playing without the potent offensive triumvirate of Suffern's Meg McNally, North Rockland's Taylor Moore and one of the nation's elite scorers in Fox Lane standout Lindsay Toppe, the Valley's grit never faded.    

Albeit they posted a meager record of 1-5 in the Empire State Games, Hudson Valley gave the 2010 Empire State Games Champions, Long Island, their toughest test of the tournament. 

Long Island, which shellacked every foe by a 10-goal spread en route to earning the gold medal, encountered the most difficulty with a grip-tight Valley defense hellbent on halting their souped-up, run-and-gun style offense.

The Valley forced Long Island to play a down tempo, slowball brand of lacrosse that threw them out of whack. Hudson Valley limited the gold medal team's transition attacks and hindered their high-powered offense, which penetrated the nooks and crannies of defenses at will.  

Despite taking Long Island out of their comfort zone, Hudson Valley ended up falling by a 5-2 margin.  

While he does not believe in moral victories, Callanan said he's proud his quickly-implemented defensive system panned out on the big stage, before a sea of college colleges and onlookers.

Anchored by local products such as Melissa Hanson (Lakeland/Panas), Marissa Makar (Yorktown), and Aileen Kurpis (Yorktown) Hudson Valley's defense was able to keep the nets sealed better than any team in the tournament.

Hudson Valley boasted the lowest goals allowed total in the tournament, but struggled mightily trying to execute their own offense.  

The sputtering offense specifically struggled with transitioning defense to offense and creating fast breaks.

The Valley put up meager numbers without the injury-plagued trio of high-volume scorers in Toppe, McNally, and Moore.    

"Defensively, everybody was solid, very well prepared," said Callanan, the head coach at Suffern High in Rockland County.

"I mean great kids, obviously. We gave up by far the fewest goals in the tournament. We only gave up 26 goals in four contests. Central and Adirondack had both given up more," he said. "A lot of teams tried to come at us with the run-and-gun. We were successful in slowing it down, halting the tempo and not getting caught up in the whirlwind that some of the kids try to create.  

"We kind of were able to pack it in defensively and let teams come at us. Long Island tried to bait us into chasing their fast paced style. They were up 4-2, they were expecting us to stall, for about eight minutes we just packed it in. We kind of employed a "rope-a-dope" style.

"We wanted to tire them out. We wanted to make sure we didn't get caught up in that. For eight minutes I didn't think Long Island knew what to do. We had opportunities we just weren't able to convert them. I understood the Long Island coach's strategy. I think we countered that very well."

Lakeland/Panas' Melissa Hanson, a catalyst of the defensive unit, feels the team actually let the Long Island game slip away.  

"Even though we came out a hell of a lot better against Long Island, it was definitely a missed opportunity," she said.   "It was definitely something we could have had. Team defense was one of our strong aspects. That's something we'll take from this loss, is we recognized how to play together. Unfortunately, we came up short."   

Callanan's squad scored their lone win in a 10-0 bludgeoning of New York City. The team shared the wealth, spread the field, got free for open looks at net, and made that extra pass. The Valley ran away with it early. Callanan played a slew of reserves and alternates, opting not to run up the score (as other teams did) against the Empire State squad representing the Big Apple.

 Despite the fact that he exited in freefalling fashion, Callanan thought his core of young players handled the big stage setting well. He heaped lavish praise on Walter Panas high school standout Alexa Bonnes, describing her the team's most athletically gifted player.  

"She has athleticism that at times you are at awe of," said Callanan. "She's got size, speed, strength. I think she's a top D-I prospect down the road."  

Bonnes did a little bit of everything throughout the tournament. She scooped up groundballs. She attacked the cage at will. She distributed the ball. You might have even seen her selling hot dogs at halftime. That's right, she had a hand in every play.