LACROSSE
Improving Their Game, One Shot At A Time
Half Hollow Hills Lacrosse team focuses on mastering skills as season progresses
By Tricia Arend / tarend@longislandernews.com

Improvement has been the name of the game for the Half Hollow Hills lacrosse team this year. Since the beginning of the season the team has shown significant progress and they are ready to step up their game to make it to the playoffs.

The team is currently 3-5 in League I play with five games left, having conquered Walt Whitman, 13-9, Longwood, 13-7, and Brentwood, 20-9.

“We’ve been doing pretty good, we’ve been playing a couple tough games lately, but we’re expecting to win our next couple games,” said captain Alex Benedetto.

“The season is going well, a lot better than it has in the past,” added captain Jackie Fini. “We’ve hit a rough patch because we’ve been playing a lot of really hard teams lately, but we’re looking forward to getting some wins under our belt and hopefully making it to the playoffs.”

The team has experienced improvement in the midfield and in terms of communication when working together as a team, but needs to come out stronger and work on playing a full game, Benedetto said. Although they need to focus on gaining possession of the ball a lot more and tossing better, the Hills girls have improved in terms of moving the ball on the field a lot faster and have a number of important players, Fini said.

“There’s a really good balance of who’s scoring on the team. There’s not just one person scoring 10 goals a game but 10 people scoring two goals a game,” Fini said.

A number of Hills players have continued to shine throughout the season thus far, said head coach Lori Graham, including Ali Mckeefrey, Benedetto and Megan Emanuelo. Mckefreey and Benedetto have been scoring a significant number of goals and continue to control the offense, while Emanuelo has been doing a fabulous job transitioning the ball from defense to attack, Graham said.

Jackie Martella has strong stick skills and is fast on the field, Graham said, and Fini has been controlling the team’s draws and enabling the team to thrust the ball into the attack. Ashley Sakowitz has been averaging 12 saves a game and has been doing a fantastic job in the goal, keeping Hills in many of the games. Nicole Rettinger is a great defender, Graham added, and energetic Tara Lerias is known for giving 110 percent all of the time.

“As a whole the team has been working very hard and there has been a lot of players who have been contributing,” Graham said. “Overall the team has a great balance and hopefully we can win the rest of the games we have for the season. They understand what needs to be done and with the improvement shown we believe that we can do it.”

Hills lacrosse will take on Copiague at Half Hollow Hills High School East on May 10 at 10 a.m.