Thursday's home game against Plainview was perhaps the most exciting of the season, with parents and other fans on the edge of their seats. At the end, it was a draw, 1-1. Plainview had beaten North Shore in their first game earlier in the season.

North Shore's home-team advantage made for a nailbiter of a game. The Vikings were ahead at the half, with Stefania Santoli scoring the goal. In the second half, Plainview earned its goal early, but North Shore's defense shut them down after that. Viking goalkeeper Meghan Schenkel did a great job, with eight saves. The offense continued to play well but couldn't quite convert. During the last 10 seconds of the game, Stefania had a terrific send to Cara DiSanti, who was about to push the goal past the keeper, only to be blocked.

When the team played MacArthur last Tuesday, they lost 5-3. Stefania, Vanessa Levy and Christina DeSousa had a great game, each scoring on a difficult field. Terry Kulbaba and Lauren Eskenazi came off the bench to add a spark to the offense. The team played well, with a few mistakes that they were able to work on before the Plainview game.

At the end of last week, with a busy week ahead, North Shore's standing was 2 wins, 2 ties, and 3 losses.

The Vikings played two games last week against conference opponents Plainedge and New Hyde Park, coming into the first contest opposite Plainedge with an unbeaten record of 1 win and 2 ties. North Shore ended up on the losing end of a 5-1 game, with the lone goal scored by sophomore Ian Grabill. The Vikings played a strong first half against first-place New Hyde Park, only to break down in the second half as NHP added four goals to their 1-0 half-time lead.

With five league games remaining in this very competitive conference, North Shore is in contention for a playoff spot. This week's away games against Bethpage and Lynbrook and home against Great Neck North could determine the Vikings' fate.

The team came up against a major rival in Manhasset last Wednesday, resulting in a very physical, highly skilled game. North Shore came out determined to set the tone of the game and came on strong with the help of Callie Breen and April Mercadante. As the Vikings worked hard to keep the ball away from the opponents, Rachel McCullough repeatedly sped down the sideline to send the ball, scoring and bringing North Shore to a 1-0 lead at the half.

Manhasset came out strong in the second half and was met by an equally tough Viking defense. Samantha Kyrkostas, Blair Clancy, Kristen Occhiuto and Maeve McGilloway worked hard all game to protect the North Shore goalie, Karen Boehm, who had nine saves. On a defensive corner, Manhasset tied the score at 1-1. The game went into overtime, which began very evenly matched. Boehm stopped two more attempts by Manhasset to score, but Manhasset managed to score once more on a corner, giving them a sudden-victory win over North Shore. The Lady Vikings played their best game yet and look forward to seeing Manhasset again in the playoffs.

After an exciting week of league matches and winning the North Shore tournament, the Lady Vikings extended their winning streak on the first day of October by handing the previously undefeated East Rockaway team its first loss of the season in four games. The match scores were 24-26, 27-25, 25-23 and 25-23. This was an extremely exciting match for players, coaches and fans alike.

As the match went down to the wire in game four with a score of 23-23, Meghan Kelly was solid at the serving line, which took East Rockaway out of their offense. That allowed North Shore to go on the attack as Chrissy Gasser put the ball down on their court for her eighth kill of the match, making the score 24-23. Meghan put another solid serve in bounds and the Rocks went on attack. With that point, Zalika Pierre "roofed" the ball for a match-point block. Caroline Rober had nine blocks for the match, while Chrissy Gasser had eight aces and eight kills, and Kim Lerch had nine aces and eight kills.

North Shore then looked forward to a few days off to recuperate and get prepped for the rest of the season, with their next match early this week against East Meadow.

North Shore started last week on a high note, defeating Glen Cove 5-2. Allyson Gordon continued her excellent run, beating Melissa Schwartz in first singles, 6-1, 6-2. Dominique Capasso bested Christina Mazzeo 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 at second singles, after having lost to Christina when they faced off earlier this season. Three out of four doubles teams won to secure the victory for the Vikings.

The Vikings were looking on Wednesday to change the outcome of their first meeting with Great Neck North, but went away defeated 2-5. GNN was too strong, with the Vikings' only wins coming at third doubles, Jen Berger and Amanda Magli, and first singles, Allyson Gordon. Allyson remains undefeated for the season (7-0). With a rainout on Friday, North Shore's record at week's end was 4-3. Opponents this week will be Herricks, Port Washington and Clarke. The Clarke game is Friday at North Shore High School.