Bill Sutherland's fifth and sixth grade PAL team this week was the first girls team from Farmingdale to win five games with no losses. The team traveled down to Burns Park in Massapequa and edged out that team 7 to 6.

Farmingdale started out slow, with Massapequa winning the draws and ground balls to go up 2-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Farmingdale girls woke up in the second quarter and began to dominate play. Farmingdale kept Massapequa from scoring with good goaltending by Nicole Getzelman and the defensive support of Denise Mulhall and Nicole Bischof. Katie Lyons, Leanne Darcy, and Jenna Celano were excellent clearing the ball which gave the Farmingdale offense many good opportunities to score. Jessica Carvo took advantage of these opportunities to score three goals and Stacy McPartland added one goal to give Farmingdale a 4-2 lead at half-time.

Farmingdale continued their role into the third quarter, with great hustle by Heather Raso, Teri-Ann Beir, Kristan Lavista, Christine Sutherland, Deena Kalifa, and Jaclyn Venezia which led to goals by Taylor Smith and Julianna Kirk giving Farmingdale a four goal lead. Farmingdale looked to be in control of the game until the whistles started going against them. With 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter Massapequa was awarded numerous possession changes and given four eight-meter free position shots. Three of these shots resulted in goals, two of which came with just 23 seconds left in the third quarter. This brought Massapequa to within one goal with a score of 6-5.

Early in the fourth quarter, Massapequa tied the score at six, but good goaltending by Katie McCallum, who was filling in for the injured Laura Newburger, kept Massapequa out of the net for the rest of the game. Jessica Carvo and Stacy McPartland completed a beautiful give and go which enabled Carvo to score the winning goal with three minutes left in the game.

The team thus improved their record to five wins and no loses to be the first Farmingdale girls team to do so. The senior Flames also still have a perfect record at 4-0, but they drew a bye last week.

The Farmingdale Spirit, the third and fourth grade PAL girls lacrosse team, suffered their first defeat of the season last Sunday. The team traveled to Lynbrook and took on a team that is the oldest and most experienced team in their division. Nevertheless, the Spirit played up to their name and just barely lost to Lynbrook in an extremely tight game (8 to 7) that was decided in the last minute.

The Spirit got off to a slow start and Lynbrook took an early 3-0 lead. Farmingdale finally scored on Jenna Block's first of her two goals with 59 seconds left in the first quarter. Between quarters, the coaches explained that the difference between the teams in the first quarter was that Lynbrook had dominated the ground ball game. From that point on, the Spirit responded and either outplayed, or played the fourth grade dominated Lynbrook team even. In the second quarter, both teams scored twice. Farmingdale's second quarter goals were scored by team captain, Kristin Jones, and Melissa Maier.

The Spirit then dominated the third quarter, outscoring Lynbrook 3 to 1. Farmingdale's first third quarter goal was scored by Katie Wood off of a nice assist by Alyssa Dorsey. Lauren Broten played a big part in this goal by making a nice catch, completing a good pass, and then fighting hard for a loose ball that was awarded to Dorsey. Jones then scored two more goals in the third quarter to lead her team with three goals. The third quarter ended in a 6 to 6 tie.

Lynbrook took the lead in the fourth quarter, 7 to 6, two minutes into the quarter. Dorsey answered that goal with one of her own to re-tie the score. Both teams then played even and good lacrosse until Lynbrook scored with just 38 seconds remaining off of an 8-meter free position shot.

Brenna Dugan played fabulously in the goal in the second quarter; making seven big saves while only allowing three goals. Alyssa Dorsey also did a great job in the first half making four saves in goal. All the Farmingdale girls played a great game after that slow first quarter start. They just weren't able to overcome the three goal deficit. Offensively Shannon Haas, Candace Rossi, Jessica Irving, and Kristen DiLiello made major contributions in the midfield with good passing, defense, and ground ball pick-ups. Chelsea Bianco and Brittany Tuzzolo did a very good job in both the offensive and defensive ends, especially coming up with a number of loose balls and then clearing them up field effectively. Julianne Cona and Lauren Principato also played well at both ends of the field making some good plays to retain control of the ball for their team.

The Spirit is now 4 and 1, which is a remarkable record considering they are the youngest team in the division. Next week they play division leading Wantagh Seaford, also a team which has mostly fourth graders and a lot of experienced players, but, according to coaches, after this week's game the girls now know they can play with anyone.

The Farmingdale Bullets started the second half of the season with a home game against the 5th and 6th grade Division I Garden City White team. The Bullets went into the game expecting a close match against a tough Garden City team, and when the day was over no one was disappointed.

Farmingdale jumped out front as Michelle Maier scored the first of her game high four goals, off an assist by Patricia Santorelli. Farmingdale added three more goals in the first quarter as three different players, Ryann Quinn, Justine Galgano, and Vicki Fanslow each scored one. At the end of the quarter with Farmingdale up 4-0 it looked as if it was going to be a one-sided game; however, Garden City had different ideas. The second quarter saw the Farmingdale lead reduced to 5-3. Farmingdale's attack continued to pound away at the Garden City goal throughout the game only to be held off by a hot Garden City goaltender, who would end up with 22 saves by games end.

Both teams would exchange goals for the balance of the game as Garden City refused to let Farmingdale run away with the game. With two minutes remaining in the game, and Farmingdale up 10-8, Garden City got control of the ball and moved down field knowing they had to score two quick goals to even things up. As has been the case all season, Farmingdale's solid defense came up big and shut the Garden City attack down. Erica Masci and Justine Galgano formed a virtual wall around the Farmingdale goal giving goaltender Megan Hardgrove a chance to stop Garden City's shots. For the entire last 2 minutes of the game Garden City pressed the attack only to be denied by a determined Farmingdale defense. The final horn sounded and Farmingdale remained undefeated with a hard won 10-8 victory to improve to 4-0-1.

Farmingdale's attack was led by Michelle Maier with four goals and one assist, Vicki Fanslow with two goals and one assist, 1 goal each for Ali Lauterborn, Katie Dorso, Justine Galgano, and Ryann Quinn, and assists by Megan White, with three, and 11 each for Ashley Iavarone and Patricia Santorelli. The entire offensive unit contributed to the Bullets attack by keeping continuous pressure on Garden City as they won the ground balls and continually pressured the Garden City goal. As always, it was a total team effort with contributions from Kim Miller, Courtney Cullen, and Kristine Pullen on offense, and Maggie Grubb, Erica Masci and Kian Lyons on defense.

Once again Farmingdale's goaltending duo of Megan Hardgrove and Colleen Magri came up with big saves when they were needed, halting their opponent's chances of getting back in the game. The coaches and the parents congratulate the girls on their effort and unlimited desire.