After dashing onto the field shouting and hugging one another, the Manhasset High School Varsity Girls lacrosse team regrouped to pose for their first photo as 2004 Long Island Champions last Thursday night. With multiple cameras flashing and the excitement of their title only minutes old, the girls smiled for the camera as one mother yelled at the team to look in her direction. But the girls yelled back, almost in perfect unison, "The cap. The lens cap is on!" Even in the midst of their 17-12 romp of Shoreham-Wading River in front of a crowd of over 400 people at SUNY Stony Brook's Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, the young athletes kept their heads.

It was just a glimpse of the type of composure and good judgment that has been crucial to the Indians' run for the Long Island Championship. But their level-heads are the result of experience - and the girls are the first to admit it.

"It's a huge factor," said Lauren Taylor, a three-year starting midfielder and one of seven seniors in the starting line-up for Manhasset. "Seven out of twelve, that's a pretty good ratio. If I'm going to have the ball at the end of the game with however many second left, down one goal, you want it in someone's hands who has been there before and who has had the experience. And we have a group of seniors that have been there before, so it helps out a lot."

But, unlike the boys' squad last week, the Manhasset girls have not needed to pull a last-minute game-winner out of their hat just yet. Last Thursday the Indians (16-1-1) never looked vulnerable in a game that counted as both the Small Schools Southeast Regional and the Long Island Championship match. Shoreham (16-3) led once in forty minutes on the field, taking a 1-0 lead with 33 seconds gone by in the game, then drawing even on a 3-3 tie early in the first half. But the Suffolk County champs' early goals seemed to do nothing but awaken a scoring giant. Five Indians scored in the eight-goal run that followed as Manhasset dominated the first half 11-3.

"I thought we were the better team. I'll be honest," said MHS head coach Tom Campolettano. "I didn't think we were going to lose. I mean I think the score's a lot closer than the game really was. They're a good team, but right now they don't have the plays we do right now."

Maddie Hoeg had a game-high five goals for Shoreham. For Manhasset, defenders Julie Scherer, Ariana Parasco, Annie Duvnjak and Eileen Ward suffocated SWR's attack. On the offensive end, Kathleen Kelly had four goals and an assist, complemented by Caroline Buhr with three goals and Aly English and Juliet White with two goals a piece. The veteran Manhasset squad was led in the scoring column by Taylor, an honorable mention All-American, All-Long Island and All-Nassau County pick, with 11 points (4 g, 3 a).

Taylor, who is headed to play for the Yale Bulldogs next spring, described the high point of the game as the feeling at halftime after the girls' eight-goal scoring sprint. "[The run] gave us momentum going into the second half and kind of sealed the deal."

Amy Torpe prompted the run with a free-position shot, which was followed by a goal by Buhr from the top of the crease as the Indians started to break away. Buhr slid by her defender again with 4:33 left in the half to make the count 9-3, and it was Taylor's free-position goal with 15 seconds left that topped off the run.

As was the case in Manhasset's eight goal win over North Shore in the Nassau final, the Indians' seasoned offensive line-up and their stifling defense allowed them to cruise to an easy victory in the second half. But in their search for their second state title in as many years, these girls know that this was only another necessary piece a larger puzzle.

"I would like to say [we're feeling] excited, but I think it's almost relief," Taylor said. "There were a lot of expectations, there was a lot of pressure and if we had lost - which we weren't going to," she said confidently, "but if we had, it would have been more of a disappointment than anything. More so than it would have been with Shoreham-Wading River or another team."

The next necessary piece of that puzzle can be found in Cortland, NY. Manhasset will play the Pen-Yan/East Aurora winner in a state semifinal this Friday at SUNY-Cortland.

"When we go upstate, we've been there before, we know what it's like," Taylor added. "We went last year. It's nothing we haven't seen before. We want to go back, but it's always harder to defend the title than it is to get it the first time."

When asked what he would hope to see his team do next Friday, Coach Campolettano summed up his game plan crisply: "Win," he said with a straight face. "Nice and simple, just win." And these girls know what it takes.

But what's scary, at least for Manhasset's next opponent, is that we have not yet seen this team in its prime. "We still haven't played our best game," Taylor said. "We're still waiting for everything to totally click. I'm just excited for when that happens."