LACROSSE
First Ladies Team Loving Lacrosse
St. Patricks School finds success with new team on Seminary’s field
By Mike Koehler/ mkoehler@longislandernews.com

Despite not having a field or gym lockers, St. Patrick’s School is scoring well with families of 19 students.

Officials at the private, Huntington-based Catholic school established a competitive lacrosse team for eighth grade girls, the first lacrosse team in St. Patrick’s history.
“Every year they seem to add something,” head coach Mike Lynch said, adding that they now host basketball, volleyball, track and baseball teams.

Athletic Director Jeremiah Sullivan agreed with his coach.

“Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor is a hotbed for lacrosse, it just made sense to do this,” Sullivan said.

Consisting of 19 players, including 12 starters, the squad calls a recently created field at the Seminary in Lloyd Harbor home.

“The Seminary’s got 240 acres. Right behind the building, they have a large field,” Lynch said, praising the institution’s staff for cutting the grass and painting the field. “A lacrosse game had never been hosted at the Seminary, so there was a lot to do.”

The team’s inaugural first home match-up also went over smoothly, as the girls defeated St. Mary’s High School on May 5 with excellent ball movement and cutting skills.

They also won several road games, including Long Island Lutheran 11-4 and the Greenvale School 15-14.

Unfortunately for St. Patrick’s fans, many of this season’s 10 games will not be played in the Town of Huntington.

“It’ll probably be a little bit unbalanced. Because it’s the first year, to get teams, we had to agree to play them at their place,” Lynch said. “You try and be as accommodating as possible.”

The level of interest with creating a girls’ team, however, has helped spark an equal, if not great, desire for a boys’ team. Lynch confirmed that school officials looked at instituting a team this year, but were unable due to logistics and deadlines.

“I would expect that they would have two teams on the boys’ side,” he said. “Now that the girls’ program has gone so well, the boys absolutely will be there.”