The Massapequa girls lacrosse team wasn’t going to let a slow start to the season shake its confidence.
Despite dropping five of its first six games, Massapequa was building toward playing its best as the postseason approached.
“We had a rough start, but we always reminded them to trust the process,” coach Erin Kollar said. “And that if they believed in themselves, we’d be playing our best lacrosse when it matters most.”
Second-seeded Massapequa did just that with an 11-8 victory over No. 1 Syosset in the girls lacrosse Nassau Class A final at Bethpage High School Wednesday. It’s Massapequa’s fourth county title since 2016.
Massapequa (6-9) advances to play Northport (17-0) in the Long Island Class A championship at Bethpage High School Saturday at 10 a.m.
Massapequa scored four of the game’s first five goals and led 6-2 at halftime. Joely Caramelli scored three of her four goals in the first half in the win.
“I feel like I have a great team with my back, so they just motivate me to just keep being better,” said Caramelli, a sophomore. “I trust everybody on the field and everybody around me.”
Kimberly Greenblatt added three goals and Jessica Giller had two goals and an assist for Massapequa. Caitlyn Dorman added two goals and Kali Konstantinakos had an assist.
Syosset (6-7) pulled the score to within 9-7 with 11:44 remaining in the second half following Jessica Colalillo’s goal and 10-8 with 5:56 remaining in the game after Nicole Fanelli’s fourth goal of the game.
“We trusted each other,” Kollar said. “And even though Syosset went on a little run, we never stopped believing in ourselves and believing in the team.”
Colalillo and Megan Kitagawa each had two goals for Syosset.
Luchianna Cardello, who had 10 saves, said Massapequa has been looking forward to the chance to play for a county and Long Island title after last winning a county title in 2018.
“It’s huge, especially because last year we had our COVID year taken away from us,” Cardello said. “And the year before that, we lost in counties, so we had something to prove this year and we did.”
