The Third Grade Girls Lacrosse Team Maroon Sweeties suffered their first setback of the year on Saturday, June 11 with a loss on the road in Farmingdale, a game that they should be very proud of. However, the Maroon Sweeties roared back on Sunday with a home field rout of Rockville Centre, in their final regular season game.

In the biggest challenge of the season, the young ladies came onto the Farmingdale field playing hard with pride in their game. The game Saturday in Farmingdale was tight throughout, with Farmingdale winning 8 -7 in a game in the closest game Farmingdale has played all year. Garden City started off the scoring with Jamie Sweet clearing to Haley O'Hanlon, who passed to Erin Pfail who put it away for a 1-0 GC lead but Farmingdale quickly countered with three goals to lead 3-1 after the first quarter. Melanie McHugh then made a remarkable clear to Kelly Tierney who ran it into the offensive zone and passed it to Kayla Murphy who put it home to cut the deficit to one. After several great defensive stops by Jackie O'Hare, Caroline Beaty and Deidre McGrath with standout goaltending by Megan Cotter, Farmingdale made it 5-2. After another successful draw win by Kayla Murphy, the girls advanced the ball to Kayla who passed it to Haley O'Hanlon who bagged the goal to cut the lead to two. Then Katherine Malhame raced right in on goal just as time ran out with GC trailing 5-3 at half.

In the second half, Farmingdale jumped out to a 6-3 lead but Caroline Beaty spotted Katherine Malhame near the goal and she cut the deficit to two again. The offense then came on strong lead by Kayla Murphy, Katie McGovern, and Michelle Gaine with Caroline Beaty scoring on a free shot to cut the lead to one but the home team Farmingdale answered to up their lead to two at the end of the third quarter.

Garden City answered as Haley O'Hanlon converted a penalty shot after being set up by nice passes from Daniella Joyce and Erin Pfail. Farmingdale answered quickly by upping the lead to two again 8-6. Hannah Eilbeck then made a fine pass to Erin Pfail who cut the lead back to one with two minutes and forty seconds left. The GC Maroon Sweeties pressured but could not get the equalizer and came up on the short end of an 8-7 score. The girls played very hard in an inspired game. Kayla Murphy was great on draws as were Caroline Beaty, Katherine Malhame on offense. Kelly Tierney and Hannah Eilbeck were excelled in passing. Kayla Murphy and Melanie McHugh tied for the ground ball lead with three each, followed by Jackie O'Hare with two. Unfortunately, time ran out on the Maroon Sweeties in the tightly officiated game, and they suffered the one goal loss to the select Farmingdale squad.

On Sunday, the Sweeties returned to their winning ways in their final regular season game. Everyone on the team contributed. The offense moved the ball with ease while the defense, lead by Megan Cotter, Michelle Gaine, Deirdre McGrath and Jackie O'Hare, was like a wall in front of goalie, Kelly Lawkins, who - when Rockville Centre did break through - was up to the task with some great saves. Among the goal scorers was Taylor Will, who scored a fine goal on an assist from Erin Pfail. Kayla Murphy, Erin Pfail, and Haley O'Hanlon each scored twice and Caroline Beaty once. Zoe Karikas, Daniella Joyce and Megan Cotter each added assists.

The Maroon Sweeties were all over Rockville Centre defensively and they attacked ground balls. Sara Ruhl, Katie O'Neil, and Hannah Eilbeck each had lengthy runs out of the defensive zone after scooping grounders, and Katie McGovern grabbed one deep in the offensive zone, which she turned into a shot on goal. Jamie Sweet added a shot on goal and two groundballs and Melanie McHugh had four groundballs and at least one great interception.

Even with a four goal lead for virtually the entire game, the Maroon Sweeties repeatedly made the required three passes. Kelly Tierney was particularly dominating on in the defensive and midfield zones, as was Zoe Karikas behind the net on offense. The team repeatedly worked the short passing game to perfection, leading to many other good scoring opportunities in a game which - remarkably - was not as close as the 8 -2 final score indicates.

Thank you to all who supported the efforts of the girls throughout the season, most particularly their parents and siblings. And from the parents - "Thank You" to all the coaches for their time, energy and effort required for the incredible coaching job they did this year, and Eileen Pfail for her photography work with tirelessly effort roaming the sidelines, camera in hand. The Jay Gallagher tournament lies ahead, with perhaps the promise of a rematch with Farmingdale.