Although the Mamaroneck girls lacrosse team didn’t get off to the most auspicious start this spring, the season ahead looks promising for a young and talented squad. On March 21, the Tigers dropped their season opener to Suffern 16-3, but seem poised to bounce back when league play heats up.
Suffern took control of the game right from the opening draw, as Abby Bosco collected a pass from Reilly Drab to give Suffern an early 1-0 lead. They would add 10 more goals in the first half to take an 11-2 lead into the break. It would be more than enough of a cushion for the Mounties, who reached the state finals a year ago. Suffern’s Alli Iodice led all scorers with 7 goals. For Mamaroneck, Julia Kwait, Cassie Budill and Sarah Bennett each scored.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game against a tough team,” Mamaroneck coach Rocky Lividini said. “We just have to be able to take some positives away from this and get better.”
Some of the positives include the play of Tiger goalie Talia Land, who turned away several scoring chances on the afternoon.
“Talia played a great game, as always,” Lividini said. “She got pelted with some unbelievable shots and she stayed positive, which is really amazing.”
Lividini knows that Tuesday’s season opener will be about as tough as it gets for the Tigers this year. Mamaroneck returns seven starters from last year’s team that went undefeated in league play, and despite losing some key seniors, they have enough athleticism and talent to once again be a force within Class A.
“Out of the 21 girls we have on the team, more than half come in with some varsity experience,” Lividini said. “And we have some girls who were on the state champion field hockey team in the fall, so they know what it takes, mentally, to win.”
The first order of business, she added, was putting their first loss behind them.
“I think we’re going to work on a lot of shooting and picking up the intensity of our defense in practice,” Lividini said. “The one thing about this team is that they’re so well conditioned, so we know we’re going to be able to go for a whole game.”
The Tigers will be off until March 30, when they travel to Fox Lane to take on the Foxes in a non-league contest. They will begin league play on April 6 on the road against New Rochelle.
“We swept the league last year but we’ve got to see every team twice,” Lividini said. “I see us excelling again because we’re a very unselfish team, so we just need to pick up our confidence.”
