Despite Taylor Gallarello’s Efforts In Goal, ESM Edges Westhampton Beach Girls Lacrosse

Taylor Gallarello gave the game everything she had Thursday.

The senior goalkeeper was quick on her feet to make eight saves, stayed grounded amid a barrage of penalty shots and even scooped up a couple of ground balls to keep her team in it during the Westhampton Beach girls lacrosse team's 5-4 home loss to crosstown rival Eastport-South Manor.

“I think she was the best player on the team — from both sides,” said senior defender Caroline Henke. “Taylor played amazing. She saved us this game.”

What helped keep Gallarello’s head in the game was not getting inside her own. She said she tries to remain positive, because she finds when she starts overthinking things, she plays differently.

“I came in really excited,” the senior said. “I grew up with a lot of girls on ESM, and we know their tendencies and can read the plays a little earlier, which helped. I also think self-talk and confidence are my keys to help me play better. I felt pretty good about my play.”

The Sharks (9-2 in Division II, 156.00 power points) still managed to get on the board first, though, just over six minutes into the game, but senior midfielder Jackie Amato countered off an assist from junior midfielder Olivia Rongo with just under 15 minutes left in the first half to tie things. Eastport-South Manor forced a turnover after the Hurricanes (8-3 in Division II, 135.60 power points) scooped up possession off the ensuing draw, and the Sharks held onto the ball to score the first of their four penalty shot goals at the 9:25 mark.

“We came out knowing it was going to be tough competition — knowing we were going to have to play our hardest,” Henke said. “In the beginning we were trying to faceguard, but I think the defense can hold its own with our pressure backer. I know every girl out there was trying their best and we wanted to win.”

Back-to-back Gallarello saves in the 7-minute mark gave the Hurricanes some added momentum, too. At 5:34, senior midfielder Maureen Duffy drew a shooting space penalty and finished with a rocket into the far-left corner to retie the game. Gallarello made her fourth and final stop of the first half a minute later to keep the teams knotted heading into halftime.

“We used halftime to clear our heads,” the goalkeeper said. “It’s a 0-0 game — forget about the past.”

It seemed to work, as the Hurricanes returned to firing on all cylinders. First, Rongo found Duffy on the left side of the cage for Westhampton’s first lead of the game, and after the junior had her own shot stopped, she found eighth-grade attack Reese King on the crease with a pass across the front of the cage. King quickly rebounded the ball into the right side of the goal for a 4-2 advantage.

“We practice plays like that a lot during practice, so we all know what we’re looking for,” Rongo said of the feed to King. “For a majority of the game we were rushing things and not waiting for the open look that we knew was going to come, so when I got the ball behind cage I knew I had to wait. When I saw Reese pop open I placed it right on her sick and trusted her to finish, like she did.”

But the junior thought her team still could have played better.

“I was getting really excited and trying to turn the game around as much as possible, and I think there were a few people who realized this — like Caroline Henke and I both had really big caused turnovers that could have been game-changers — we just have to figure out a way to convert them on the offensive side,” Rongo said. “We weren’t moving the ball, and we were playing selfish offense. Our defense picked it up for us, but it obviously wasn’t enough.”

Unfortunately, Rongo received two yellow cards after her team’s two goals and two straight draw wins, which forced the Hurricanes to go a man down during Eastport-South Manor’s two goals that tied the game.

“Taylor definitely kept us in it, but not having Olivia in the last nine minutes definitely impacted us,” head coach Mary Bergmann said. “I think if we didn’t have those we would have pulled away, but you can learn from a loss in May to win in June.”

“I think these last few close losses were definitely good learning experiences,” Rongo added. “They were a chance to realize that we can’t pretend like every game is a normal game and to stick to the game plan. We knew exactly what we were walking into all three times and we veered off what we were supposed to do.”

Henke said her Hurricanes were looking for a game that would define them, and thought the rival competition was the one, but said they know things can only get better from here.

“It’s the little things we can fix ourselves that hurt us in the end,” Gallarello said. “I think we have a lot of potential, and we always go out hard, but we always end up beating ourselves up a little bit, and it’s coming back from that we struggle with. After every game we reflect and talk about what we can do for our next game, and now it’s always erase the loss and move forward.”