The PAL Farmingdale Spirit, the fifth grade girls lacrosse team, finished their season with a big 10-4 win over Cold Spring Harbor. The victory earned them a third place finish in their six-team division one super division which included teams from Garden City, Manhasset and Wantagh. The Spirit finished the season with a 4-3-1 record, losing their three games by a total of only six goals.

The game saw the Spirit jump out to an early 3-1 lead on unassisted goals by Jackie Gunn, Alyssa Dorsey and Candace Rossi. By halftime the girls had taken a 6-2 lead, continuing dominance in the second half outscoring CSH 4-1 to finish out the victory.

Both Rossi and Dorsey, who were the team captains along with Shannon Haas, finished with three goals apiece. Gunn, Chelsea Bianco, Melissa Maier and Katie Wood had one goal each while Wood, Stefanie Rulli, Kerriann Garvey and Rossi each registered one assist.

The Spirit midfielders, Haas, Codie Weber, Brittany Kohlmann, Julia Castaldi, Danielle Dialto, Carolyn Psillos, Gunn, Rossi, Dorsey and Maier did a great job of controlling the midfield and defending the ball. Jen Troy, Julianne Cona, Alex Maldonado, Lauren Broten, Allison Laudage, Lauren Principato, Ashley Raso, Samantha Elie and Brittany Tuzzolo split time between offense and defense, all doing a great job defending the ball and their own player while in the defensive zone. On attack they helped maintain control of the ball by getting involved in the transition game, backing up the goal cage and picking up loose balls.

Elie made three big saves in the goal in the first half while Tuzzolo was outstanding with eight huge saves in the second half to maintain the lead. Both of these goalies, along with Cona, played extremely well all season which enabled their team to have a winning season. The goalie is the heart and soul of a team and plays what many believe to be the hardest position in all of sports.

The 2001 season was an extremely successful one for the Spirit. Assistant Coaches Melissa Laudage and Meg Fanning, both members of the NC Class A Champion Farmingdale Lady Daler varsity girls lacrosse team, did a wonderful job this year with the girls on their skills and knowledge of the game. Coach Joe Fanning is grateful to them and is very proud of the teams effort and progress. All three coaches have continually stressed the importance of team play on the Spirit. The play on the field this year proved that the lesson is being learned. Every girl who finished the season with the team either scored or assisted on goals. All the coaches congratulate the players on another successful season and thank the parents for their support. The Spirit had fun and learned the game, which always translated to a winning season no matter what the score and record is.

The fourth grade PAL girls began the season with a loss on opening day, but then rolled off seven consecutive victories. The latest was a nail biter with the team defeating a very tough Manhasset team 10-8. Brittany Hushion scored the first of her three goals to open the games scoring and she also tailed the game winning ninth goal with less than two minutes remaining to play.

All season the girls were spectacular at moving the ball on offense. Joining in on the scoring against Manhasset were Tara Coyle, Janine Hillier and Jackie Mazza with a goal and an assist each. Katie Sutherland and Jessica Kessler both scored their first goals of the year. Kayla Mueger and Regina Bates each scored also. Victoria Finocchiaro, team leader in assists this season, had three more assists in the game. Joan Buczkowski, Stacy Leckawicz and Emily Fugarazzo each added an assist.

Lauren Maksym and Fugarazzo were again outstanding in goal. The defense as usual was very aggressive in intercepting passes and getting ground balls. Kim Valdini, Katie Wong, Victoria Johnson, Meaghan Fullam and Jana Diamond led the defense. The key to every game was the control of the ball on offense. Morgan Abele, Shea Macagnone, Jen Hults, Jamie McPartland, Nicole Ramos, Danielle Chieffo and Shannon Palmer were spectacular in that ball control.

The girls finished the season with a 7-1 record. The coaches, Dan Hushion, Terry McPartland, Kim Hiller, Chris Fugarazzo and Nick Fugarazzo were extremely proud of the girls' effort and enthusiasm this season. Coach Hushion pointed out that 18 different girls scored goals this year and 21 different girls registered assists. That shows that these girls have figured out at an early age that you must play together as a team to be successful in lacrosse. Three or four girls cannot carry a team every game all year.

The coaches want to thank all the girls and their parents for a very successful and enjoyable year and hope that every girl returns next year and brings a friend to join and play. Farmingdale is a lacrosse town. Just witness the success of the Farmingdale varsity girl's team all the way down through the PAL youth program, which has been instrumental in building that successful varsity program.

The third grade girls finished up their season tying a persistent Carle Place team 7-7. Farmingdale dominated for a little over three quarters but a four goal rally by CP tied the score at 7 late in the game. The girls have been playing inspiring lacrosse and have achieved growing success throughout the season.

In the game against CP, the Farmingdale girls scored two goals within the first two minutes of the game with Samantha Smith (2 goals) and Alexandra Zwerling scoring their first goals of the season. Alyssa Cardillo (2 goals) rounded out the first quarter scoring putting Farmingdale up 3-1.

Alexis Rzempoluch, who was consistently dominant on the draws gave her teammates possession throughout the first half. On an assist from Sarah Mulcahy, Katie Murphy scored to put Farmingdale up to 4-1. At midfield, ground play was tilted in Farmingdale favor with Michelle Mellina, Sarena Volante, Lauren Connors, Kelly Grzinic and Jordyn Hasemann proving to be prominent in their positions.

Newcomer in the goal Alyssa Kelliher showed no fear thwarting CP's offense record recording 9 saves for Farmingdale. As usual, the defense was anchored by Megan Ryan and Kristin Fowler. Fowler's game however was not limited to the defense as she scored her first goal of the season. Farmingdale continued with relentless pressure against their opponent going up by four goals on three separate occasions but CP was persistent. Despite many shots on goal, the late rally by Carle Place left the game at a draw.

In the previous game against Manhasset, the girls were impressive posting a 6-4 win. Megan Planz was confident in goal and with her defensive help of Kaitlyn McCrystal, Jackie Lore and Julianne Littell, she continuously stopped the Manhasset attack. Emily Todd and Jackie Sonnenschein helped out the offense drive. Scoring was made by Cardillo (2), Rzempoluch, Hasemann, Mulcahy and Murphy.

The team finished its season with a record of 4-3-1. The coaches would like to thank the girls for a great season.