This Saturday the PAL Farmingdale Spirit reached the halfway point of the season in the tough first division of the 3/4-grade rookie league as an undefeated team. The Spirit went out Saturday and played the tough Garden City Blue team, which was composed of all fourth graders and soundly beat them 11 to 6 to push their record to 4-0.

Farmingdale played their finest game of the season against probably their toughest opponent. Eleven of the 16 Spirit players either scored goals or had assists. Candace Rossi led all scorers for the third game in a row by putting the ball in the net three times. Alyssa Dorsey also showed she is an offensive threat scoring two goals with two assists. Joan Buczkowski, Lauren Principato, Tara Coyle, Brittany Tuzzolo, Katie Wood and Melissa Meier all scored one goal apiece. Allison Laudage, Lauren Broten and Shannon Haas each contributed one assist. Julianne Cona and Emily Fugarazzo both did a fabulous job protecting the Farmingdale goal. Cona had three saves in the first half and Fugarazzo had seven saves in the second half to ensure the Spirit victory.

Midfielder Jackie Gunn, who is a veteran and one of the finest players on the team, played great both offensively and defensively. Shea Macagnone and Lindsay Hoglund continue to show how tremendously improved they are as first time players by playing overall good lacrosse.

Coach Joe Fanning's two student assistant coaches, Melissa Laudage and Meghan Fanning, had total responsibility for preparing the team before the game. They did an outstanding job of that as well as helping focus the girls during the game. They both are showing great promise as coaches, as well as players. On Friday, Laudage scored three goals in the high school varsity victory against arch rival Port Washington and Fanning had three goals in the Howitt 8th grade victory over Berner Junior High.

Earlier on Saturday the 5th and 6th grade team coached by coaches Jones, DiLiello and White ran their record to 3 wins and no loses by defeating Bellmore-Merrick 11-8. Five different girls scored two goals. They were Kristen Jones, Nohra Ramirez, Jenna Block, KerriAnn McCarthy and Jillian Cerar. Kristen DiLiello contributed one goal to the victory.

Brenna Dugan played goal the entire game and did her usual outstanding job enabling her team to secure the win. Melissa Crow, Brittany White and Katherine and Mary Orabona all had very strong defensive games.

At one point in the third quarter Farmingdale led by five goals. Bellmore-Merrick made a strong come back attempt and closed the deficit to one goal with the score at 9-8. Coach Jones credited Brittany White with a big play at this time. After closing to within one goal, Bellmore-Merrick again had the ball in the Farmingdale zone when White came up with an important loose ball and cleared it out of the Farmingdale end. Farmingdale then went on to quickly score two more goals to put the game out of reach for Bellmore-Merrick.

Finally on Saturday, the Bullets, Farmingdale's 5th and 6th grade division I team, remained undefeated by beating Huntington 14-8. The Farmingdale girls, playing with only one sub, dominated the game from the very beginning. Michelle Maier scored the first goal on a nice pass from Ali Lauterborn. Less than a minute later Lauterborn scored on a pass from Courtney Cullen. The Farmingdale girls went up 5-0 on goals by Katie Dorso, Erica Masci and Maier's second goal of the game. Huntington finally scored making it 5-1 at the end of the first quarter.

Christine Pullen opened the scoring in the second quarter followed by a goal by Ryan Quinn and two by Katie Dorso. Farmingdale took an 8-3 lead into half time. By the third quarter the Farmingdale girls were starting to get tired due to the hot weather. Huntington made a come back closing the score to 8-6. The Farmingdale defense then stepped up making some great plays. Kian Lyons led the defense knocking down passes and picking up the loose balls. Erica Masci and Denise Mulhall played steady defense doing a great job of doubling the ball.

In the fourth quarter Farmingdale again regained their dominance of the game by scoring the last four goals of the game. Michelle Maier led the scoring with 7 goals and an assist. Ali Lauterborn had one goal and 4 assists, Courtney Cullen had three assists, while Ryan Quinn, Christine Pullen and Erica Masci each had a goal and an assist. Katie Dorso also had a big offensive game scoring three goals. The rest of the Bullet scoring was done by Karl Rotkin, Kim Miller and Teri Ann Beier with one assist each. Once again Megan Hardgrove was terrific in goal handling 13 shots for critical saves.

The undefeated and first place PAL Farmingdale Flames then played on Sunday putting their 4-0 record on the line when they faced the outstanding senior division (7th and 8th grade) team from Manhasset, who came in with a 3-1 record. Manhasset's only loss had come to the Garden City A team by one goal. The Flames eliminated any chance of a Manhasset first place finish in the Long Island Senior Girls Youth Lacrosse League (LISGYLL) with a resounding 13-6 victory giving the Flames a 5-0 record.

Once again the high powered Farmingdale team was led by their outstanding defensive game and as usual it was goaltender and tri-captain, Diana Beltrani, who led this defensive effort. The brilliant Beltrani made 16 saves of which many were point blank and excellent shots. Krista Daniello, Sookie Wientzen and Jessica Fitzpatrick gave their usual tough defensive effort repeatedly doubling the Manhasset ball carriers legally denying them clear lanes to the goal or forcing them to take low percentage shots. the rest of the team's excellent defensive effort came from Jes Cohen, Caitlin Magri, Jess Miller and Kathleen O'Malley.

The scoring was again led by the team's top player, Julia Ryan, who scored three goals. Meghan Fanning and Heather Hoglund also had big offensive and well-rounded games scoring two goals each with one assist. Lauren Cohen put in two goals, Jess Patane had a goal and an assist, while Stacy McPartland, Trisha Santoreli and defensive leader Krista Daniello each one goal. Jess Fitzpatrick had a real nice assist on one of Ryan's goals when she fed her with a pass in front of the goal.

The rest of the Farmingdale midfield, Vicki Fanslow, Jess Carvo, Alicia Psillos, Kate Hogan, and Meg White transitioned and defended the ball extremely well while helping the Flames control the ground balls. Fanslow and Ryan particularly showed why they are as strong as defenders as they are offensive players with some nice interceptions. Colleen Magri and Bridget Kenna did a super job when playing at the low attack positions.

While running their record to 5 and 0 against Manhasset, the Flames have clearly established themselves as the team to beat in the LISGYLL, which arguably sees the best junior high age girls' lacrosse played on Long Island.