Sports Recap: Greeley Girls Lax Shows Improvement

Greeley Girls Lacrosse

It’s been a season of improvement for the Horace Greeley girls lacrosse squad, as it qualified for the Section 1 tournament, which starts on Thursday, May 19.

“It’s a huge beginning for us,” Greeley coach Annamarie Marasco said. “We were 1-14-1 last year and to have six wins this year it’s a big step in the right direction but we have a lot more to work on. We were hoping, I was hoping, to have at least a .500 or a winning season but starting five freshmen, you could imagine my excitement looking forward to the next couple of years with them and some strong sophomores.”

Greeley finished the regular season at 6-10 with a 13-10 loss in its regular-season finale at home to Somers, one of the most improved teams in the section, on Saturday. Greeley was coached by assistant coach Taylor McKenna who was assisted by JV coach Heather Ausiello as Marasco was at a wedding.

“That would have been a huge win for us, just so we could get a better seeding,” Marasco said. “We know we are going to face one of the top teams in the section in the first round. The girls have a big challenge ahead of them.”

The Quakers last win came in an 18-16 triumph at Harrison on May 11. Leading Greeley to the win was senior Jess Kreisler with six goals and one assist from her attack position.

“Jess is one of my captains, she is a great team leader,” Marasco said. “She always hustles. I am hoping to keep her scoring. She leads the team by example by her play. She gets a lot critical groundballs for us on the draws, so that’s huge for us.”

Junior defensive wing Issy Berkey also had a big game for the Quakers with three goals and two assists.

“Issy only started playing lacrosse as a freshman,” Marasco said. “She plays soccer as her main sport. She is a great athlete who understands any game she plays. She is fiercely competitive. She will make a healthy competition out of anything we do.”

Also recording a hat trick for the Quakers was attack wing Willa Rosenblum, who had three goals and an assist. She has the ability to switch hands and guard, among other skills, according to Marasco.

“Willa is another great athlete on the field who understands the game, tremendously also as a freshman,” Marasco said.

Also contributing to the scoring column was Maura Grant (two goals), Miranda Litwak (two goals), Courtney Hill (one goal) and Hannah Gutenplan (one goal). Ariane Crummer and Sydney Marks each made four saves in goal.

Fox Lane Softball

After losing to Harrison and Greeley the previous two days, Fox Lane wanted to rebound from those losses quickly and it did just that in the North Salem Tournament on Saturday.

Fox Lane (13-4) did that by winning a doubleheader. The Foxes defeated Somers 19-8 in the semifinals before beating Kennedy Catholic 9-3 in the championship game.

“We hadn’t lost two in a row yet so that hurt,” Fox Lane’s Allison Lombardi said. “It was nice then to come back and win two games right away like we did.”

Against Kennedy Catholic, Brittany Ciullo was 4 for 4 with 4 RBI, tournament MVP Christie Lombardi was 3 for 4 with two RBI and Allison Lombardi was 2 for 4 with an RBI. Winning pitcher Toni Ann Licata was 2 for 3 with an RBI.

On the mound, Licata struck out five and allowed just two earned runs.

Fox Lane also had its hitting shoes on against Somers. Leading it in that game was Christie Lombardi, who was 4 for 5 with six RBI while Allison Lombardi was 4 for 5 with an RBI. Olivia Azrak was 3 for 5 with three RBI.

“As a team, we hit really well in both games,” Allison Lombardi said. “We played so many games that week that our bats were fresh, they were ready to go when we played on Saturday.”

Lombardi, who played at first base against Kennedy, was the winning pitcher against Somers, striking out six and allowing four earned runs to leave her with a 9-2 mark.

“We just want to win as many of our final regular-season games (three) as we can and get as high a seed as we can going into the sectionals,” Allison Lombardi said.

Fox Lane won one of those games she was referring to with a huge 5-4 triumph on a bases loaded, one out, walk-off hit by Christie Lombardi against visiting Harrison, which had entered the game 15-1, on Monday. Licata got the win on the mound for the Foxes, improving to 4-2.

Fox Lane was down 2-1 in the bottom fourth when Jenna D'Adamo put it ahead with a two-run double scoring Licata and Ciullo. D’Adamo then scored on a wild pitch making it 4-2. 

Harrison tied it with two runs in the top of the fifth and it stayed at 4-4 to the bottom of seventh. Fox Lane’s Jackie Gigante led off that inning with a single to center before Zoe Vandervelden pinch ran for her. 

Natalie Byer sacrificed Vandervelden to second. Allison Lombardi was up next and the first pitch she saw was wild, sending Vandervelden to third. 

Harrison then intentionally walked Allison Lombardi, bringing up Bella Rago. Allison Lombardi stole second, making it second and third with one out. Rago eventually earned a walk to load the bases with one out. 

Christie Lombardi then came up and with the count 1-1 lined a shot up the right field ally to score Vandervelden with the game winner.