The Farmingdale Spirit, the third and fourth grade PAL team this week continued its amazing winning streak by beating Hicksville Saturday on the road 8-3, to remain undefeated with a record of four wins and no losses. The most incredible aspect of this streak is that the Farmingdale girls are the youngest and most inexperienced team in their division. They are also talented, determined, and athletic, according to their coaches.

Team captain Kristin Jones again led her team in scoring with three goals. Brenna Dugan, Jackie Gunn, Kiera Murphy, Katie Wood, and Candace Rossi each scored one goal apiece. Jenna Block led the team in the assist category with two. Katie Wood added an assist to go with her goal.

The goaltending duties were again shared by the dynamic duo of Brenna Dugan, in the first half, and Alyssa Dorsey, in the second half. Dugan made three saves while only letting one goal get past, and Dorsey made five saves while only giving up two goals. Each girl's saves against goals ratio was better than two to one, which is a remarkable statistic. Both Farmingdale goalies also are learning to cut down the angle for the shooter, which forces missed shots.

Brittany White, Julianne Cona, Melissa Laudage, Brittany Tuzzolo, Shannon Haas and Kristen DiLiello all had excellent games by getting to, and coming up with, numerous ground balls. They, along with Chelsea Bianco, all contributed offensively and defensively to this overall team effort.

The Flames, Farmingdale's PAL Division I seventh and eighth grade team, traveled to Manhasset and played its toughest and best opponent to date. Once again, the Farmingdale girls rose to the occasion, and in an extremely hard fought victory defeated Manhasset 12 to 10.

Coaches Joe Fanning and Tom Fitzpatrick expressed their pride at the fortitude and determination of their team. "In my many years of coaching, this truly was one of the roughest games I've witnessed," Fanning stated. "The Manhasset girls were openly checking, which is illegal at this level, and although called for it many times still did connect with Farmingdale bodies and sticks numerous times. All of our girls played an outstanding game and would not buckle under the constant Manhasset pressure."

Krista Pellizzi showed her offensive prowess by scoring five goals and adding one assist to lead her team offensively. Co-captain Meg Fitzpatrick also had a superior offensive game, adding three goals and one assist. Nicole Rosario, who did not play goal for the first time this year, showed she has an offensive side to her athletic ability by scoring two goals. Kate Pullen and Diana Beltrani each added one goal apiece to round out the scoring. Meg Fanning had two assists and so dominated the draw that the Manhasset coach had her players overload Fanning's side of the draw, all to no avail. The ball was continually put into the sticks of Farmingdale attackers most of the time.

The victory was a total team effort. Co-captain Joanna Venditto led the Farmingdale defense with her hustle, superb double teams, and ground ball pickups. Lauren Cohen, Julia Ryan, Heather Hoglund, Kate Howard, Emily Fortunato and Kate Quinn all added to the Farmingdale defensive effort by continually turning back Manhasset scoring attempts and coming up with those important ground balls.

Offensively, Katie Hague, Katie Hogan, Lauren Ciccolella and Jessica Miller made major contributions offensively with some excellent passing, hustle, and helping maintain constant pressure on Manhasset. Kate McInnis arrived late in the second half, but she was able to help her team hold off Manhasset at the end.

The goaltending duties were split by Emily Fortunato and Diana Beltrani. Fortunato made four big saves to allow Farmingdale to take a close 7-6 lead into half-time. Beltrani entered the Farmingdale goal circle in the second half and was spectacular turning away eight Manhasset shots while only letting up four goals. Beltrani made a number of crucial saves at the end of the game despite some excellent point blank Manhasset shots.

Farmingdale had surrendered the lead early in the second quarter, but was able to tie the game with 12 minutes remaining in the second half on Rosario's second goal. Manhasset briefly regained the lead with 11 minutes to go, but then the combined strength of the Farmingdale defense and Beltrani's goaltending shut them out for the rest of the game. Fitzpatrick re-tied the game at 8:35 and then Pellizzi put the Flames ahead to stay. Pullen capped the victory with an insurance goal with 39 seconds to go.

The Flames drew a bye next week and entered the second half of the season undefeated at 4-0 with two extremely tough games remaining. The Flames still must play a very powerful Huntington team and must face this Manhasset team one more time.

The Farmingdale Bullets played their fourth game of the season at home against the fifth and sixth grade Division I Huntington team. Farmingdale came out fast, taking two shots at the Huntington goal, but did not score. Huntington gained possession of the ball and slowed the pace of the game down dramatically, until they found an opening in the Farmingdale defense, and scored the opening goal of the game. Huntington's lead was short-lived as Farmingdale won the next draw and quickly tied the score on Michelle Maier's first of five goals. Each team scored one more goal to finish the first quarter even at two goals each.

In the second quarter, the Bullets made adjustments to compensate for Huntington's slow paced game and quickly turned the tide of the game. Farmingdale closely marked the Huntington attacks forcing them into misplays and turnovers. Farmingdale scored five goals in the second quarter to Huntington's one as they went into half-time leading 7-3.

Farmingdale continued to dominate in the third quarter, adding two more goals to go up 9-3. Finally, in the fourth the two teams traded off goals to finish up at 11-6.

Farmingdale's attack was led by Michelle Maier with five goals, Ali Lauterborn with three goals and two assists, and Vicki Fanslow, Patricia Santorelli and Ryan Quinn with one goal each. Megan White had two assists and Courtney Cullen and Justine Galgano had one each. The entire offensive unit contributed to the Bullets attack by keeping continuous pressure on Huntington as they won the ground balls and moved the ball around the field to help set up for the shots on goal. As always, it was a total team effort with contributions from Sam Lyons, Ashley Iavarone, Kari Rotkin and Kristine Pullen on offensive, and Maggie Grubb, Erica Masci and Kian Lyons on defense.

The second Farmingdale fifth and sixth grade PAL team won their fourth straight game beating a tough Northport team at Farmingdale's home field Sunday after the Bullets had played. Farmingdale started out strong with goals by Stacy McPartland, Jenna Celano and Heather Raso to take a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Northport came back very strong at the start of the second quarter by scoring three goals to tie the game. Stacy McPartland then scored three goals to put Farmingdale back on top. Jessica Carvo also scored once in the second quarter to give Farmingdale a 7-3 half-time lead.

The second half was highlighted by the tough defense of Nicole Bischof, Denise Mulhall and Leanne Darcy. Julianna Kirk and Nicole Getzelman each scored a goal in the second half to round out the Farmingdale scoring to secure a 10-6 victory. With Laura Neuburger out with an injury, Julianna Kirk and Nicole Getzelman shared the goaltending duties, and did a great job. All of the girls played well and are looking forward to playing Massapequa next week.