Lead Stories, Sports

Red Raiders edge Tigers

On Monday, May 7, the Mamaroneck girls’ lacrosse team saw an impressive winning streak come to an end, as the Tigers fell at home 12-9 to a North Rockland squad currently sitting atop the Section I rankings.

Despite the hard-fought loss, Mamaroneck head coach Rocky Lividini is confident that her team is primed for a rematch should the two teams square off again in the postseason.

Cassie Buddil rushes toward the net against North Rockland. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Tigers. Photo/Mike Smith

After an evenly played first half that saw the Tigers head into the intermission trailing 6-5, North Rockland’s high-pressure defense and balanced offense helped create some separation as the Red Raiders gained the upper hand once play resumed.

For the Tigers (10-4), a second half swoon may have been the result of the team’s inability to maintain its intensity to the final whistle.

“We have a smaller roster this year with only 20 girls, so I think you saw at the end, our middies had been running up and down the field for 50 minutes and they were gassed,” Lividini said. “We can’t just be a first-half team, we have to play a whole game.”

The coach was pleased with some aspects of her team’s performance however, and noted that North Rockland (12-1)—who will be the presumptive top seed in the Class AA playoff bracket which will be announced next week—could be ripe for an upset if the two clubs square off again in the postseason.

If the Tigers are able to win their two final regular season games, league contests against White Plains and Ursuline, they should secure a No. 2 seed, setting up a potential rematch in the Section I title game.

“We knew coming in that North Rockland was going to be the hardest team we’ve faced, but from what we saw, we have no reason to believe that we don’t have the ability to play with them,” Lividini said. “Granted it was a loss, but I think it gave us some confidence going into the sectionals.”

Lividini stressed that in order to be successful against a team of North Rockland’s caliber the second time around, much would hinge on her team’s ability to learn from Monday’s game.

“They put a lot of pressure on us with their defense and we can’t allow them to dictate what we want to do,” she said. “Defensively, we need to be able to stay tighter on their cutters because they have a lot of girls who can score.”

But before the Tigers set their sights on North Rockland, they will first need to finish out the regular season on a strong note.

“We already beat White Plains and Ursuline, so we know they’re going to come out on fire,” Lividini said. “We’ve taken every game one at a time and even good teams have a bad game, it’s just about learning from that and continuing to work hard.”