St. Anthony's Girls Lacrosse Wins Fourth CHSAA Title

Kerrin Maurer and her girls lacrosse teammates may not finish the season as mythical national champions, but the Friars were still a force in every way.

St. Anthony’s roared past Sacred Heart Academy in the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA Class AA championship game, 20-5, Wednesday at C.W. Post, wrapping up a 16-2 season. The Friars, ranked fifth nationally in the ESPN Rise rankings, claimed their fourth straight league crown.

“The two teams we lost to are ranked above us,” St. Anthony's coach Corinne Lomangino said. “We played out of our minds. We had an awesome season. They were such an amazing bunch of kids.”

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Heroes: Maurer, a senior attack headed to Duke, and junior attack Darcy Messina each scored three goals in the first half, a tour de force that Sacred Heart couldn’t counter.

But where the game was won was ball control. Credit the midfield and junior assist machine Anne Heagerty. The Georgetown commit scored twice and added five assists.

Turning Point: If there was any doubt about the outcome, it was answered with five goals in a 4:42 span late in the first half. Sacred Heart’s Maggie Comiskey scored to close the gap to 5-1.

"After they scored that goal, we were like, 'Wow, we have to step it up,'" Heagerty said.

Then came an onslaught of Friars goals to push the lead to 10-1 with five minutes remaining. Devon O’Connor put in the first off a rebound to make it 6-1 with 9:42 left. Maggie Bill and Maurer each scored twice to extend the lead to 10-1. 

Quotable: “It’s the Catholic league championship,” said Maurer, who was named league MVP. “We knew we had to play hard. They could have come out and taken us down.”

Bottom Line: St. Anthony’s lost tough matchups to Garden City and , two teams currently ranked ahead of the Friars. Finishing their collective careers are eight seniors (five starters) who can claim four league championships and a Top 5 national finish. 

Key Stat: The Friars took a 13-1 edge into halftime, a far cry from their last meeting with Sacred Heart – a 19-14 slugfest.

Who’s Next: Season complete.

Goals  – SH: Comiskey 2, Breen, Conto, Corcoran; SA: Maurer 4, Messina 3, Madden 3, Heagerty 2, Bill 2, Nicolia, O'Connor, Paloscio, Brady, Behr, Murphy. Saves  – SH: Salter 10; SA: Holland 7, Ingalls 2.