For a moment, it was hard to tell whether their tears were joyful or bittersweet.
Joyful, for one, because the Manhasset varsity girls’ lacrosse team had just overcome a five-goal deficit to defeat Victor Senior High School, 11-7, for the program’s first Class B state title since 2003.
But as the players hoisted the championship trophy on June 7, feelings of sadness began to set in, as the afternoon marked the last time the team’s 13 seniors would compete wearing the orange and blue jersey bearing the Manhasset name.
“I can’t even describe the feeling,” said goaltender Erin Coleman, whose defensive unit held Victor scoreless for the title game’s entire second half. “In eighth grade, we knew the state championship was an achievable dream, but to actually win it was life-changing. It just feels really good.”
“Not being able to play for Manhasset anymore after this championship, it’s going to hurt,” she added. “It was a huge honor to put on that jersey.”
That sense of honor is reared into every Manhasset youngster – male or female – who picks up a lacrosse stick hoping to someday take the field for the Indians.
Some of senior forward Emily Koufakis’ earliest lacrosse memories involve afternoons in the bleachers at the Manhasset Secondary School, watching the 2003 team push for a state championship and dreaming of doing the same.
It was a dream, she said, more than a decade in the making.
“I remember touching the trophy and it was just such a humbling feeling, looking out to all the dads who’ve helped us from the very beginning,” Koufakis said. “They were in tears also.”
For many, the tears shed that afternoon at SUNY Cortland were not just in celebration of New York’s highest lacrosse honor, but redemptive of bitter memories forged a year earlier on the very same field, during a shocking 9-8 state semifinal loss to Brighton High School.
It was 2013, not 2014, that was supposed to be Manhasset’s storybook season, as the Indians topped rival Garden City for their first Long Island title since 2005.
“We underestimated them. We wanted it so badly and fell short in the end,” Koufakis said. “I remember that last whistle. We were all crying hysterically.”
Time did not heal their wounds. When field hockey season arrived for many of the players that fall, they swapped sticks during spare hours, awaiting another shot at glory.
“We did not want to get on that bus a second time without getting that win,” said senior midfielder Julia Glynn, whose four goals and three assists in the title game propelled Manhasset’s offense over Victor. “Everyone had to play as a team. It didn’t matter who scored or came up with groundballs, as long as they were from Manhasset.”
Great Expectations
The Indians entered 2014 with the No. 2 ranking in the preseason Nike/US Lacrosse High School Girls’ Lacrosse National Top 25, ahead of rival programs St. Anthony’s (No. 6) and Garden City (No. 16) that beat Manhasset during the 2013 regular season.
Both schools reappeared on the Indians’ schedule, as did Maryland powerhouse Notre Dame Preparatory School (No. 25), whom Manhasset beat 14-4 in 2013.
“From Day One, the goal was to prove to everyone that we did deserve that national ranking and we weren’t the team we were last year,” Glynn said. “We had to keep that focus – win the state, become the state champion.”
Keeping that focus, at times, meant ignoring the national rankings entirely.
“We don’t define ourselves by rankings. We define ourselves as a team,” Koufakis said. “I had been playing for 10 years, and for 10 years we have been saying we wanted to win a state title. We had to take it practice by practice and game by game.”
But in the Indians’ very first game, a 14-4 rout of Plainedge High School, senior Natalie Stefan’s season ended with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Days later, attack Sarah Phillips went down, and shortly thereafter a stress fracture in Kellen D’Alleva’s back sidelined her for the year. Julia Sullivan also tore her ACL, all while Manhasset began the season 5-0.
“After all those injuries, we realized it didn’t matter if you were on the field or on the bench. You had a role to play,” Glynn said. “I think that was when we realized we had a deep enough team to win at states.”
The Indians’ revelation also came with a wake-up call, as Manhasset dropped back-to-back non-league games against Notre Dame Prep and Massachusetts’ Westwood High School over Spring Break in April.
“The practice after those games was a very focused practice,” Coleman said. “It wasn’t a hard practice, but focused. Coach [Danielle Gallagher] to us to keep pushing and focus on our goals.”
Koufakis added: “People were expecting so much of us. That was a real turning point in the season and that’s where we really came together and said, we have to put it behind us and move forward.”
Reset Button
The Indians began focusing on causing turnovers and quickly transitioning into a blossoming offensive game led by top scorers Glynn and junior Lindsey Ronbeck.
The tactic worked, as Manhasset rattled off conference wins over Cold Spring Harbor, North Shore, Wantagh, Garden City and Farmingdale – outscoring opponents 72-40 over that stretch.
“When our defense is on point, nothing could get by us,” Coleman said. “It really made a difference with me. I made sure I had everyone’s back and they had my back. When I play well, everyone plays well, and when everyone plays well, I play well.”
Manhasset finished a perfect 10-0 in Nassau Conference I play, culminating in a 12-6 non-conference win on the road at St. Anthony’s that avenged a one-goal loss in 2013.
“We knew St. Anthony’s was such a good team and we wanted to prove to everyone that we were good,” Coleman said. “We knew we’d have to play together as a unit to beat them.”
Similar results followed when postseason play began, as the Indians easily dispatched Great Neck South, Calhoun and North Shore before beating a Wantagh team in the Nassau Class B title game on May 28 that a week earlier upset Garden City.
Glynn had five goals, four assists and won four draws against Wantagh, including three scores in the game’s first few minutes that helped the Indians jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Days later, Glynn and Ronbeck accounted for nine of Manhasset’s 16 goals as the Indians topped Sayville for their second-straight Long Island Class B championship.
“We had a lot of spirit and motivation coming off the county and Long Island wins,” Glynn said. “We were focused on that state title goal. We weren’t just playing for each other, we were playing for the seniors last year who couldn’t take this ride with us.”
Cortland
History did not repeat itself when the Indians arrived at Cortland.
Manhasset topped Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, 9-3, in the state semifinal round on June 6, holding All-American attack Nicole Beardsley scoreless. Five Manhasset players scored, and Koufakis, who two days prior strained her quad, had two assists.
But when the Indians took the field the next day against Victor, the Blue Devils quickly jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and forced Manhasset head coach Danielle Gallagher to call a time out.
“We said to each other, guys what is happening? This isn’t Manhasset lacrosse,” Koufakis said. “I think we were a little shocked as to how good they were. We said to each other, this is our last game. We are not coming up short like last year.”
Gallagher told the girls to chip away at Victor’s lead and remember the defensive principles that propelled Manhasset to Cortland in the first place.
With under four minutes remaining in the opening frame, Glynn scored twice, and the Indians trailed 7-5 at halftime.
With 18:49 remaining, Glynn tied it at 7. Moments later, she fed Ronbeck for the go-ahead goal.
The Indians finished the game on a 9-0 run, holding Victor scoreless for nearly 35 minutes until the final whistle.
“It only takes 30 seconds to score a goal, so as much as is made of coming back from a five-goal differential, it’s something we know we can make up very quickly,” Gallagher said. “The defense comes up big and then we go back and score, and you just know you can do that every single time and everybody kind of gets the feeling it can happen at any time. There’s a whole team aspect that carries forward with that.”
Koufakis, Danielle Nicosia and Jackie D’Avella each forced three turnovers in the win. Coleman, named the tournament’s co-MVP with Glynn, made six saves.
“They really helped me out and it did make a difference because we caused so many turnovers,” Coleman said. “It was a huge difference. Everyone made a difference.”
The disappointment that boarded the bus with the Indians and returned with them to Manhasset would have to find a different way out of Cortland this year.
The Indians hoisted the trophy, tears streaming down their faces. The usually reserved Gallagher celebrated with a cartwheel.
Manhasset was champion of the lacrosse field once again.
“I think we proved ourselves. I think we proved that we were the No. 1 team in New York State,” Glynn said. “We made our community proud that Manhasset is home to the 2014 state lacrosse champions. It was a grace that we were able to bring such happiness back to the community.”
