The Mineola High School girls varsity lacrosse team completed its first season in Nassau County's top conference and earned a spot in the playoffs. The regular season finale was the fourth game of the week and resulted in a 14-4 defeat at the hands of Freeport. Melissa Dadich kept the Lady Mustangs from being shut out in the first half when she scored her first varsity goal. Juliet Barber followed suit by opening the scoring in the second half with her first varsity goal. Nikole Tsabasis led all scorers with two goals. "Defensively, we had a tough time dealing with Freeport's transition and we were unable to find a key to break it up. Even though Freeport frustrated our defense, we never gave in and played hard the entire game," said coach Katie Sheehan.

Goaltender Allyson Murphy made 14 saves for a save percentage of 50.

The Lady Laxers completed their regular season at 1-14-1, good for eighth in the small school league and 13th overall in the county. But, playing in the first division guaranteed Mineola a playoff spot.

In a playoff contest against Glen Cove, Mineola emerged with a 10-7 victory. It marked the second time this season that the Mustangs beat Glen Cove. Danielle Adams and Alison Carnabuci found their scoring opportunities limited because the Glen Cove defense was keyed on them. Nevertheless, Adams was very impressive in her midfield transition while Carnabuci came up with a goal and two assists.

Mineola jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The visitors returned fire, though, and closed to within a goal at 6-5 a minute into the second half. But, Nikole Tsabasis scored off a feed from Carnabuci. Lauren Anderson followed with a goal that gave the Lady Mustangs an 8-5 lead. Coach Sheehan pointed to the Anderson and Theresa Dolan as leaders defensively. The defensive unit had to adjust because Joanna Canning missed the game due to a death in the family.

Midway through the game, Vikki Montalbano moved back to defense from offense, which allowed Mineola to stifle the Glen Cove offensive push. In goal, Allyson Murphy had a big game, making 15 saves for percentage of 68. Tsabasis led Mineola with four goals. Courtney O'Connell and Montalbano had two each to go with goals from Anderson and Carnabuci. The victory earned Mineola a spot in the second round, But, they'll be facing top ranked Manhasset.

The Mineola varsity baseball team moved from last to second place in Conference B-IV in a two week span. The Mustangs swept a three-game set from Jericho and took two of three from Roslyn. In the first Jericho contest, Mineola earned its first league victory 7-6. Bryan Gallucci pitched a complete game, but had to hand on at the end because of some shaky defense.

Jericho began the 7th inning down 7-0 before closing to within a run. Second baseman Chris Egner executed a perfect hit-and-run to drive in Richie Medlock with the first run of the game. Egner completed the day 2 for 2 with a triple and two RBI. Matt Sanderleaf and Tom Aupied also had some timely hits. Eddie Kaiser and Medlock score two runs each.

The next day, Mineola was an 8-5 winner over Jericho. Tom Aupied earned the victory and went the distance, allowing five hits, striking out three and allowing one earned run.

A five run first inning put the Mustangs ahead to stay. The hitting stars for the game were Richie Medlock, Mike Kondraicuk, Matt Sanderleaf, Shon Phillip and Greg Weiss. The Mustangs also had 12 stolen bases as Mineola completed the sweep of Jericho with an 11-4 victory. Sophomore Matt Shanahan pitched a complete game. Eddie Kaiser and Bryan Gallucci delivered run-scoring singles in the fourth inning, putting Mineola ahead for good. Shon Phillip smacked a two-run homerun in the fifth inning. Gallucci closed out the scoring when he drove in two more runs with a bases loaded single.

Mineola opened its next series by losing game one to Roslyn 6-1. Mineola held a 1-0 lead going into the final inning. Roslyn opened the seventh with a single, triple, followed by several well-placed hits, scoring six runs, coming away with the win.

Mineola had to sweep the series to lock up a playoff spot. It proved to be a costly loss. In game two of the series, Mineola notched an 8-3 victory. Tom Aupied pitched another complete game on the mound and also helped himself by pulling off a double steal with Eddie Kaiser to score the Mustangs first run. Greg Weiss drove in a run in the third inning. J.F. Canavan singled in Aupied in the fourth inning. Mike Kondraicuk followed by driving in Canavan. Mineola put the game away with a four-run seventh inning. Rob Campagna clubbed a two-run homerun. Bryan Gallucci and Greg Weiss also added RBI in the inning.

In the rubber game of the series, Mineola outscored Roslyn 13-8. The Mustangs' bats came alive with 17 hits, including three homeruns, three doubles and a triple. Rob Campagna homered to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Greg Weiss added a two-run shot that inning. Later in the game, Bryan Gallucci drilled a grand slam. Sophomore Matt Shanahan worked six innings for his second win of the season. Mineola would have to beat Clarke at least once in its final series to nail down the 12th seed in the playoffs. Mineola could also make the postseason with some help. If Roslyn loses one of its games to Jericho, Mineola would still get the playoff spot.

The first Mineola High School varsity track team in a quarter century competed in the division championships on May 15. The Mineola boys finished a surprising second in the team standings. "Tim Palma set the tone for the day when he finished second in the 400 hurdles and earend All-Division honors," coach Kristan Degnan.

Adam Minsky took second in both shot put and the discus and was named All-Division. Trumainn Thurmond came away as the 400-Meter champion and Craig Gunder finished second as both earned All-Division. Gabe Moreira had a huge day. He took third place in the mile, then finished second in the 800 Meters and was a member of Mineola's championship 4X400 relay team. The rest of the foursome included Gunder, Joe Stigliano and Thurmond.

The 4X100 relay team was also a championship unit. Gunder also ran in that event along with Ramon Valente, Eric Wooten and Matt Mercurio. All of the members of the championship relay teams earned All-Division honors.

Meanwhile, the girls team also had some excellent performances. Kristin McNally was named All-Divison after finishing third in both the shot put and discus. Beth Basile had a fourth place finish in the 100 Meters and led off the girls 4X100 relay team that finished fourth. The other members of that squad are Rachel Cohen, Ali Gomez and Jahmehl Lowery. The 4X400 relay team also took fourth place. That team is made up of Susie Hahn, Vicky Baston, Kristen Bubelis and Christy Peter. Hahn, a senior, had a terrific meet, according to coach Degnan. She set personal bests in both the 800 and 1,500 Meter runs, improving her times by more than ten seconds. After a successful indoor season, followed by these accomplishments outdoors, its a wonder what took so long to get a track and field program in Mineola.