As the Farmingdale varsity girls' lacrosse team looks to repeat as the Conference A County Champions in 2002 one doesn't have to look far for at least one major reason for their success, the Farmingdale PAL girls lacrosse program. All 22 varsity players began in that program. Farmingdale PAL girls' lacrosse has continued to grow over the years. It now has eight travel teams with over 150 girls playing on those teams.

The Farmingdale PAL fifth and sixth grade division one girls' lacrosse team defeated Deer Park, 7-3, in the raid at Saltzman East Memorial on Saturday afternoon. The Farmingdale girls played aggressive lacrosse from the opening draw gaining ground balls, playing strong defense, and passing like a team that has played together for years.

The strong midfield play of Morgan Abele, Brianna Birney, and Elizabeth Edwards led to goals by Tara Gangarosa, Laura Brienza, Lia Costanzo, and Jen Hults giving Farmingdale a 4-2 lead at the half. Farmingdale's defense, which was led by Lauren Scotti, Casey Mulligan, and the goaltending duo of Shannon Palmer and Victoria Johnson held Deer Park to only three goals the entire game. The attack of Nicole Ramos, Katie Sutherland, Kelly Moloney, and Brittany O'Niell controlled the ball in the offensive zone which led to goals by Shannon Palmer, Allyssa Kildare, and Tara Gangarossa's second of the game. The seven goals were scored by six different players and every player contributed to the victory.

The Farmingdale PAL Spirit won their second grade division one game against Lynbrook 11-4 to bring their record to 2-0-1. The game was highlighted by superb team defense and great ground ball pick-ups.

Defensively the team was led by Melissa Maier and Alyssa Dorsey, both of whom forced three second turnovers with superior defensive hustle and determination. The defensive/offensive trio captains, Lauren Broten, Lauren Principato, Alex Maldonado, and Stefanie Rulli, led their defensive units with their hard work and skilled play. They all contributed to the Spirit domination of ground ball possession along with some fantastic groundball pick-ups by Danielle Dialto, Jackie Gunn, Julia Castaldi, Jen Troy, and Katie Thompson. All of these girls worked very hard to shut out Lynbrook in the second and fourth quarters with outstanding eight meter defense and fabulous double and triple teams. Candace Rossi easily led the team in interceptions with close to half a dozen.

The defensive effort was spearheaded by great efforts from three Spirit goalkeepers. Samantha Elie made two key saves in the first half allowing Farmingdale to lead at the half 8-2. Elie made some nice outlet passes to start the Spirit transition up field. Codie Weber and Brittany Tuzzolo played in the goal during the third and fourth quarters respectively. Both girls had two nice saves each. Tuzzolo made a point blank stop on a low shot with seconds remaining to keep Lynbrook scoreless in the fourth quarter. Weber not only played well between the pipes, but did very well with her field play.

The totally unselfish Spirit offense was brilliantly led by attacker Katie Wood with three goals and an assist. Melissa Maier complemented her great defensive game offensively scoring two goals. Shannon Haas and Alyssa Dorsey each had a goal and two assists. Lauren Principato had a goal and an assist while Candace Rossi, Ashley Raso, and Samantha Elie each added very nice goals. Brittany Kohlmann had the nicest assist of the game when the Lynbrook goalie made a nice save on her bounce shot. Kohlmann then controlled the rebound on a ground ball pick up and quickly found an open Wood who scored.

A frightening moment occurred just before halftime when a Lynbrook attacker followed through on a dangerous shot striking Haas, who was playing excellent defense, in the head with her stick. Haas was immediately knocked to the ground by the force of the blow and remained there for awhile as she was cared for by the Spirit coaching staff. She returned to the game in the second half and continued to play her usual strong game.

The Farmingdale PAL eighth grade lacrosse team remained undefeated in the Long Island Senior Girls Youth Lacrosse League (LISGYLL) by winning convincingly against Northport 21-1. Farmingdale took the opening draw and Courtney Cullen raced down the field to put Farmingdale ahead 1-0. The girls were extremely sharp on both offense and defense. Kari Rotkin scored just 30 seconds later to make it 2-0. Ali Lauterborn then scored two and Michelle Maier added three making it 7-0 in less than five minutes. Katie Dorso and Nohra Ramirez then scored their first goals of the season to put the team up 9-0. Northport then scored its only goal of the game. Ryann Quinn closed out the first half scoring by netting two in the last two minutes to bring the score to 11-1 at halftime.

Unfortunately for Northport, Farmingdale's defense was just as dominant as their offense. Led by Kian Lyons, Maggie Grubb, Erica Masci, and Denise Mulhall, the defense doubled and triple teamed Northport keeping them off balance and unable to get many decent shots at goalie Megan Hardgrove. Once again Hardgrove had a tremendous game, stopping all but one of the 16 shots she faced. Farmingdale slowed the game down offensively in the second half and still managed to score ten goals. Terri Ann Beier and Nicole Jurray each scored their first goals of the season also. The second half scoring was rounded out by Sam Petro and Kristine Pullen who each had two goals, while Kari Rotkin, Ryann Quinn, Ali Lauterborn, and Courtney Cullen each had one goal.

What was most impressive about the victory was the hustle on ground balls and the unselfish passing exhibited by the girls during the game. Twelve of the 16 girls scored to make it a complete team effort.

Farmingdale's combined 7th and 8th grade PAL girl's lacrosse team entry in LISGYLL lost against a very experienced Rockville Centre team 11-4. For the third week in a row the team played without the entire team, but managed to play a very strong first half which ended tied at 4. The second half saw Rockville Centre come out extremely strong while Farmingdale came out flat. Both the offense and defense tried to keep up with the dominating Rockville Centre team, but they just ran out of energy. Brenna Dugan had a very strong first half in goal. Second half goal keeper, Patricia Draghi, courageously played sick and injured, but the Farmingdale defensive effort came up short.

The offensive scoring consisted of one goal apiece by Jillian Cerar, Kristen DiLiello, Silva Megalaa, and Katie Moloney. Jenna Block, Kerri-Ann McCarthy, and Brittany White played a strong offensive game. The defense, consisting of Stephanie Butler, Melissa Crow, Kierra Murphy, Margaret Wheeler, and Mary and Katie Orabona, gave a great performance against a more experienced Rockville Centre team. Amanda Dorsey, Erin Forstrom, Kristin Jones, and Nicole Prechtl were unavailable for the game. Coaches Tom White, Greg DiLiello, and Tim Jones were pleased with the team's performance.