The Farmingdale eighth-grade girls lacrosse Conference A team won its season opener against North Shore 12-6. Farmingdale, playing with only 12 girls, found themselves in a rare position, trailing 1-0 early in the first half. Michelle Maier finally broke through the North Shore defense, tying the game at one goal apiece. Sam Petro scored her first goal of the season, putting Farmingdale ahead 2-1. Farmingdale then scored the next three goals, one each by Courtney Cullen, Ali Lauterborn and Petro, putting Farmingdale ahead 5-1. North Shore closed out the scoring making it 5-2 at halftime.

The second half saw Farmingdale dominate the play, peppering the North Shore goalie shot after shot. Ryann Quinn started the scoring with an unassisted goal, after intercepting a North Shore pass. Maier scored her second goal of the game on an excellent pass from Lauterborn. Terri Ann Beier then found an open Lauterborn for her second goal of the game. Cullen then went on a three-goal splurge on some fine assists from Maier and Lauterborn.

Defensively, Farmingdale shut North Shore down. Led by the excellent play of Maggie Grubb, Erica Masci, Denise Mulhall, Kim Miller and Quinn. Maggie Grubb did a fine job sliding to the ball and hustling after the ball on missed shots. Miller, Masci and Quinn controlled the middle of the field, scooping up loose balls. Mulhall assisted her goalie by knocking down numerous North Shore shots. Megan Hardgrove, the Farmingdale goalie stopped 11 North Shore shots as well as doing an exceptional job clearing the ball downfield. The coaches were very pleased with the team's performance.

The Farmingdale Fifth-grade girls opened their season with an impressive 7-2 victory over Cold Spring Harbor. Farmingdale dominated the game offensively in the first half jumping out to a 4-0 lead on goals by Jamie McPartland, Janine Hillier, Brittany Hushion and Lindsay Hoglund. Hillier added a second goal in the second half while Tara Coyle and Lauren Maksym each added a goal apiece. All the goals were scored off of nice assist. Victoria Finocchiaro had three assists and Stacy Leckawicz, Coyle, Emily Fugarazzo and McParland each had one.

The team got excellent goaltending from Katie Wong and Fugarazzo. The team did a fabulous job transitioning the ball from defense to offense with outstanding ball movement. Exceptional efforts were turned in by Joan Buczkowski, Jackie Mazza, Brianna Lively, Regina Bates, Jana Diamond, Shea Macagnone and Kim Valdini. The girls look forward to their next game on April 14 at Manhasset.

The Farmingdale PAL Spirit, a Division One sixth-grade girls' team, opened its season with an exciting 9-9 tie against a strong aggressive Bellmore-Merrick team. The Spirit played extremely well and disappointedly should have been rewarded with a victory. A beautiful give and go passing play which resulted in a Farmingdale goal was disallowed when the official, who was right in front of the play the entire time, incorrectly ruled only one pass had been made. Then a Bellmore-Merrick goal, which should have been disallowed for only having one pass, was allowed to stand. However, it was an extremely good game played by two closely-matched teams on a beautiful day.

Shannon Haas had a remarkable opening day leading all Farmingdale scorers with four goals. Candace Rossi, who, played with a bad finger, had three goals in another fine example of great play. Kate Wood and Lauren Principato each had one goal. The Spirit showed what a good passing and unselfish team they are with Brittany Kohlmann, Alyssa Dorsey, Carolyn Psillos and Alex Maldonado all having one beautiful assist. Dorsey dominated the center draws in the second half giving Farmingdale a big edge in the important possession category.

Brittany Tuzzolo played the first quarter in goal and had one important and nice save. Tuzzolo then played strongly, as usual, in the field the rest of the game. Julianne Cona went in the goal at the start of the second quarter and made eight saves, while only giving up six goals which allowed her team to make a strong comeback. Chelsea Bianco, Kate Thompson and Maldonado had some strong ground ball pickups while playing strong offensive and defensive game. Stephanie Rullie and Jackie Gunn led their attack/defensive units extremely well. Gunn had a great ground ball pickup deep in her end late in the game and then made a strong transition clearing run which eventually resulted in a Farmngdale goal. Middies Danielle Dialto, Melissa Maier and Julia Castaldi all had exceptional games and without their tough unselfish play, their high-scoring midfield teammates would have not done as well. The three of them are solid and skilled lacrosse players. Codie Weber, Ashley Raso and Jen Troy did great jobs on both offense and defense with their hustle, determination and skill. Coaches Meg Fanning, George Psillos and Joe Fanning were extremely proud of the way the girls continued to play hard and with team orientate play even when they fell behind on a number of occasions. The Spirit showed their tremendous lacrosse skills and heart late in the fourth quarter when they were down two goals but refused to quit according to the coaches.

The Farmingdale PAL fifth-and sixth-grade combined girls lacrosse team also opened its season with a home game against a very strong Seaford team. The Farmingdale girls lost the hard-fought game 8-4. The Farmingdale squad led by the goaltending tandem of Jessica Kessler and Andrea Dervin played a great game against the more experienced Seaford squad.

Midfielders Tara Gangerosa, Jen Hults, Alyssa Kildare, Shannon Palmer, Laura Brienza, Brianna Birney and Megan O'Shea made good passes and hustled at both ends of the field. The defense of Morgan Abele, Lia Costanzo, Casey Mulligan, Brittany O'Neill, Lauren Scotti and Carly Donza doubled the ball and took many scoring opportunities away from their opponents.

The attack was led by Elizabeth Edwards, Victoria Johnsen, Jaclyn Kramer, Kelly Maloney, Brittany O'Neil, Nicole Ramos, and Katie Sutherland worked hard in the offensive zone. Gangarosa led Farmingdale scorers with two goals, while Dervin and Palmer each had one goal. The Farmingdale girls showed great heart and determination playing hard throughout the game.

Farmingdale's seventh- and eighth-grade girls' lacrossse team lost a tough game against a strong Seaford team 11-8. Farmingdale had been undefeated in its last two seasons. The offensive scoring was led by Kristin Jones with three goals, Brittany White two goals, Kristen Diliello Silvia Megalaa and Nicole Prechtl each had one goal. Kerri-Ann McCarthy had a direct assist on a goal. Kiera Murphy had a strong game on offense.

The defense was led by Stephanie Butler, Melissa Crow, Amanda Dorsey, Katie Orobona and Mary Orobona. Brenna Dugan had another strong game as goalie. Jenna Block, Jillian Cerar, Patricia Draghi, Erin Forstrom, Katelyn Moloney and Margaret Wheeler were unavailable for the game. Coaches Greg Diliello, Tim Jones and Tom White were extremely proud of the girls' performance.

The Farmingdale third grade girl's PAL lacrosse team opened their season on the road, with an impressive 8-0 victory against Floral Park. The offense came out strong with a five goal first quarter, Kyra Ochwat with three goals and Jamie Leone with two. Other goal scorers were Maegan Meritz, Kaitlyn Brosnan and Katie Mazza.

The passing and scoring could only be accomplished with the great teamwork of Michelle Tiernan, Kelly Sutherland, Brianna Johnsen, Michelle Jacobsohn, Katie Gallagher and Julia Rachieloe. Kayla Ernst, who broke her wrist just prior to the season, provided much encouragement by cheering on her team.

The shutout was due to the fantastic goal keeping of Tina Ricena an Megan Norman. The girls did an awesome job, their coaches and parents couldn't be prouder.