Turnovers Turn To Loss For Westhampton Girls Lacrosse Team In Playoff Opener

“I think we made some critical mistakes today that really hurt us.”

That’s what Westhampton Beach senior Maureen Duffy said following her No. 4-seeded girls lacrosse team’s 6-5 loss to No. 5 Harborfields in the opening round of the Division II playoffs on Wednesday, June 9.

“We all love each other and I know we played our hearts out on this field,” she said. “It just wasn’t our game today.”

The six-year star midfielder said her Hurricanes (9-6) went into the matchup telling themselves they had to do certain things to win that ended up being difficult to actually accomplish in-game. Pressure led to a franticness that triggered 19 total turnovers, 13 in the first half alone.

“I really don’t know what it was, but we didn’t execute some of the things that we wanted to,” Duffy said. “I think everyone tried really hard and that’s what’s important.”

Harborfields (9-6) went up early on the first of three goals scored by Marina Bergin, but soon after senior attack Kyleigh Tufano evened things up for Westhampton Beach with a shot to the top right side of the cage after a penalty. At the 18:28 mark, Duffy fed junior midfielder Olivia Rongo, who had her initial shot blocked, but quickly scooped up the rebound and put it away for Westhampton’s first of three leads across the game.

“We just couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes and we weren’t slowing it down and taking our time,” Westhampton Beach head coach Mary Bergmann said. “As soon as we changed the pace, the first look we had we’d force in. This is stuff that we work on every day in practice, but when we only have one practice between games it’s hard to get it to stick.”

That is exactly what led the Tornadoes tie the game. A forced pass attempt in front of the cage went right into a defender’s stick, and that possession led to a Harborfields goal. On the ensuing draw, Katie Davis snatched the ball out of the air and took it all the way downfield for a breakaway goal to put her team out front, 3-2, at halftime.

“We definitely have potential. If we came out a little harder we could’ve gotten a lead earlier and it might have been a different story,” senior goalkeeper Taylor Gallarello said. “At times, momentum did change a little bit, and it was exciting, it’s just about keeping our heads up when a goal is scored, because a goal is going to get scored.”

But the Hurricanes walked into the second half a much different team. Duffy scored off a shooting space penalty shot just minutes in, and after a Gallarello save, junior attack Lily Berchin hit her mark from just outside the crease off an assist from Duffy behind the cage. Gallarello (nine saves) kept the momentum going by making back-to-back penalty shot stops before Harborfields finally rocketed one into the right side to knot the game at 4-all with 15 minutes left to play.

“It was a one-goal game, so we wanted to start over and start fresh — try not to harp on our mistakes and just get back out there and play our game,” Gallarello said. “There was just never a point where I was like, ‘Alright, we’ve got this.’ There was a lot of back-and-forth and momentum on both sides. They just capitalized more on their side and we didn’t capitalize enough when we had opportunities.”

Senior defender Campbell Kast forced a turnover that led to Berchin’s second goal of the game, this time, on a penalty shot, and the junior had a breakaway chance for a third on a turnover soon after that was stopped by Harborfields’ Francesca Viteritti (nine saves). Gallarello countered with her second-to-last stop. Her final, came between the last two Harborfields goals.

Westhampton had possession twice in the game’s final minutes, but both shots were high and wide.

“With the season getting taken away from us last year it was great to make playoffs. We played some tough teams,” Gallarello said. “I was just glad I got to play with everyone again. The team dynamic this year was great — we were like a family — we were so close.”

Bregmann said she feels for her eight seniors, which also include midfielder Jackie Amato, goalkeeper Casey Gallagher, and defenders Caroline Henke and Molly Skorobohaty.

“They’ve put a lot of time into the program and you want it to end as best as it possibly can,” the coach said. “They’re a great group of girls. They’ve been in it the whole time — were in fifth grade playing lacrosse when I was hired here. Like Jackie [Amato] just said, I don’t want to leave the field. It doesn’t feel real. You have to go into these games saying, ‘We can do this.’ And when it’s a one-goal game, you don’t have any time to come to terms with it when you believe you’re going to get to the next round. Some of these seniors aren’t playing lacrosse in college, but they were great mainly three-sport athletes for Westhampton Beach.”

Duffy understood her teammates’ dejection, but was also thankful for the memories.

“It hurts a lot knowing I can’t come back next year, but it’s been a great ride and I’ve loved all these girls through all these years. I love this team so much,” the senior said. “We all gave it 100 percent. Even from the sidelines I could hear everyone cheering everywhere I was on the field. We all really care for each other. We all really wanted this. It just wasn’t our day.”

The Hurricane seniors were still a part of a lot of program firsts. In 2018, Westhampton Beach bested nationally-ranked Bayport-Blue Point in triple overtime to head to the program’s only Suffolk County championship game. In 2019, the 12-5 record, which included five straight victories, was the best in school history. This season, the team played its inaugural season post-the COVID-19 shutdown. The coach is hoping to continue the streak of firsts next year, maybe even ending the season with that elusive Suffolk County crown.

“We don’t want our legacy at Westhampton to be that we always lose in the playoffs. We want to correct that,” Bergmann said. “We have a lot of great young talent on this team. This year, we’re grateful we had a season — a lot of these kids didn’t have the opportunity to play for months because of COVID — but we also want the younger kids to know there are things you can correct. That one missed ground ball could be a one-goal game. That one missed shot could be a one-goal game. And we don’t want kids playing with fear, but ultimately, that’s what it comes down to.”