Farmingdale's 5th grade PAL girls lacrosse team opened their season Saturday morning with an impressive win at Massapequa. The final score was 10-7, although this game wasn't that close. The Farmingdale ladies took the lead midway into the 1st quarter and never looked back. Special congratulations go to Emily Dorso and Kelly Mackenzie who each scored a goal in their first game ever. Fellow "rookies" Jessica Matarese, Alexandra Messina and Kelly O'Rourke also made solid contributions in their first game. Krislyn Engelke, Jamie Leone, Kelly McPartland, Kyra Ochwat and Kelly Sutherland scored goals for Farmingdale, while many others contributed both offensively and defensively. Michelle Jacobsohn, Kristin Jadervo, Martina Khalek, Kati Mazza, Megan Norman and Geena Rubino all played well, digging for loose balls and out-hustling the Massapequa team. Goalkeepers Maegan Meritz, Kyra Ochwat and Jennifer Martin did an outstanding job of stopping shots and starting the offense with outlet passes. Coach John Ochwat was very pleased with the all-around performance of the team, especially considering the limited practice time available to them. The girls face a very tough team from Wantagh in their next game this weekend.

The sixth grade Farmingdale PAL girls white team started off their season in impressive fashion with a convincing 11-5 win over Bellmore-Merrick. Although the girls got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter, the next three quarters proved to be a different story.

Fiona Grubb started off the scoring for Farmingdale with the first of her two goals. Melanie Raso then followed with the first of her four goals to give Farmingdale an early 2-0 lead. Bellmore responded with 2 goals of their own before Lauren Connors, off an assist from Katie Pescitelli, put Farmingdale up for good, 3-2, as the first quarter ended.

Farmingdale turned it up a notch in the second quarter and scored three unanswered goals for a 6-2 halftime lead. Raso, assisted by Alexis Rzempoluch, Brianna Kane, and Grubb were the goal scorers. Great ground ball work and crisp passing by Jordyn Hasemann, Sarah Mulcahy, and Danielle Lipari created the edge needed to surpass their opponent. Jackie Sonnenschein, Samantha Smith, Hannah Letourneau and Michelle Mellina contributed to the effort. As the offense began to click, the defense buckled down. Alexa Musorofitti, Amy Neuburger and Toni Roulet began doubling from different angles confusing the opponent. A suffocating performance by Maegan (The Brick Wall) Planz was the last line of defense as she recorded 12 saves.

In the second half, Farmingdale continued where it left off. Roulet, off a feed from Rzempoluch, started off the scoring. Allison Linbland followed with the first of her two goals to put the girls comfortably ahead. Farmingdale never let Bellmore-Merrick back in the game and secured the season opener for the Farmingdale win column. The team will face Wantagh in two weeks and will welcome Kacey Warmingham into the line-up who has been sidelined due to injuries. Congratulations to the girls on a job well done!

The eighth grade Farmingdale PAL Spirit traveled to Garden City Sunday with high confident hopes of beating a team they had beaten a number of times before. Unfortunately they may have overlooked the fact that the Garden City team was still a good competitive team and ended up losing 13-10.

It was a close game throughout, but one in which Farmingdale trailed since early in the contest. Garden City scored first, but the Spirit responded on a goal by Lauren Principato assisted by Candace Rossi. It was Principato's birthday and it seemed like a good sign for her and the team. Unfortunately, as the half progressed it just seemed that the Spirit did not have it all together on that day and Garden City took a 6-3 lead into halftime.

The Spirit played much better in the second half but Garden City did not let down. At best Farmingdale could only play them even in the second half with each team scoring 7 goals a piece. The Spirit just couldn't overcome their lackluster first half in which they did not run their normal possession style offense creating numerous unforced turnovers.

Candace Rossi led the Spirit scoring with six goals and the assist on Principato's goal. Lauren Broten had a goal and an assist while Tara Gangarosa and Shannon Haas each had one goal. Brittany Kohlmann and Meghan Brady contributed an assist a piece to round out the Spirit scoring.

The Spirit also did not play their patented tenacious defense and allowed numerous uncontested Garden City cutters to get passes inside the eight meter arc for easy goals. Alyssa Kildare tried her usual best to get the defense sparked, but it was not to be on this day, although all the Spirit defenders would not quit and played as hard as they could. Starting keeper, Samantha Elie, played well on Sunday and had five nice saves after a slow start before she had to leave the field for a prior commitment. Julianne Cona and Jess Wadsworth then shared the goal keeping duties the remaining part of the first half and the entire second half. They both had two saves a piece.

It was a disappointing early season loss for the team and an outcome they are simply not accustomed to. Hopefully the Spirit will respond to it as their team followers and coaches know they can. From this loss it is expected that the Spirit will motivate themselves to always play up to their tremendous team and individual potential and never to take another opponent lightly. Any team can lose, it is why they play the game, but when a team loses because they didn't play their best, that is when it hurts the most. The Spirit should return to the win column when they next face Long Beach next week.

The 7th grade "White" team beat G.C. "Blue" 12-10 in an exciting come from behind win.

Jamie McPartland and Janine Hillier supplied the scoring in the 1st half for Farmingdale against a tight zone-like Garden City defense. Garden City's center controlled the draws and dominated scoring putting Garden City up by four goals early in the 2nd half.

Jaclyn Kramer and Shannon Palmer took turns isolating Garden City's center. This coupled with strong defensive play by Michelle Kuchinskas, Emily Scisci, Brittany Newton and excellent goal-tending by Amanda Newton, shut down the Garden City offense for the remainder of the game. The strong midfield play of Janine Hillier, Jamie McPartland, Brittany Olbeter, Carly Donza and Kayla Mueger worked the ball into the offensive zone were the attack of Shea Macagnone, Stacy Leckawicz, Brittany O'Neill, Stacey Holman and Katie Sutherland spread out the Garden City defense with good passing. This team effort led to a string of goals by Jamie McPartland, Janine Hillier, Kayla Mueger and Stacy Leckawicz overtaking Garden City's lead and securing the 12-10 win.