Through the first two months of the spring campaign, few squads—if any—have been as hot as the Harrison girls lacrosse. On Thursday, April 28, the Huskies picked up yet another decisive win, recording their 10th victory of the year with a 13-6 romp over New Rochelle. As the Huskies eye the upcoming Class C playoffs, this latest win demonstrates just how dangerous the club can be when it is firing on all cylinders.
Harrison led visiting New Rochelle by just two goals at halftime, but came out after the intermission with renewed focus, outscoring the Huguenots 8-3 the rest of the way. Senior attacker Caitlin Oestreicher—who led Harrison with six goals and three assists on the afternoon— said that the Huskies’ second half explosion was indicative of the team’s mental toughness.
“I think it came down to our execution, and it starts at pre-warmups,” said Oestreicher. “Its about intensity and it’s about who wants it more.”
While Oestreicher’s six-goal game paced the Huskies, Harrison also got solid offensive performances from Lila Berkery, Abby Trotta and Stella Perini who all notched two scores apiece. But Oestreicher also credited goalie Mariana Sposato, who made eight saves—many coming during an early flurry by the Huguenots—that helped the Huskies maintain momentum throughout the contest.
“[Sposato] did a great job, even though we know that if we want to win, we can’t just rely on her to make every save,” said Oestreicher. “But having her back there gives us so much confidence.”
Sydney Middlesworth scored four of the Huguenots six goals as her teams fell to 6-5 on the year with the loss. New Rochelle will look to close out the regular season with winnable games against teams like White Plains (1-12) and Scarsdale (4-8) on the horizon.
With the win, the Huskies improved to 10-1, their lone loss coming against fellow Class C power Sleepy Hollow on April 6. In that game, the Horsemen edged Harrison 16-15 in a game that could well be a potential playoff preview. Harrison will close out the season with some stiff tests, however, with games against Horace Greeley (9-0) and Fox Lane (10-1) still on the schedule.
“We knew from the girls that we had coming back from last year that we had a lot of potential talent and it would just come down to bringing it all together,” said Oestreicher. “For us, the biggest thing was really working on our team bonding before bringing out onto the field.”
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