Amityville Memorial High School’s girls lacrosse team recently finished its inaugural season, as the popular sport was added for the spring 2018 schedule.
The junior varsity team was coached by a pair of Amityville teachers with experience playing at the collegiate level. Northwest Elementary School third-grade teacher Nicole Bass was part of three NCAA championship teams at Adelphi University and high school social studies teacher Margot Howard was an inaugural member of St. Joseph College’s women’s lacrosse team.
The Warriors played a 13-game schedule from late March through early May against Suffolk County opponents from Lindenhurst to Hampton Bays. Homes games were held at Lou Howard Field.
Coach Howard said the team was more competitive as the season went on, and successfully increased their goal-scoring ability. It also continued to gain players as word spread about the new team, finishing with about 20 players. Senior captains Gaby Alberto, Kimberly Bonilla and Allison Martinez led the group of mostly freshman, sophomores and juniors. Next year’s team will have many returning players with a full year of playing experience.
“It’s a young team and we have a lot of potential,” Coach Howard said. “The girls were so amazing and so dedicated. I’m just really excited about the future of this program.”
Coach Howard said she was extremely proud of her players, who added lacrosse to their rigorous academic schedules. They committed themselves to learning the rules and strategies, and played well together as a team.
Evan Farkas, the district’s director of athletics, physical education and health, said the hope is to expand the girls program to include a varsity team in the near future. Amityville will introduce intramural boys lacrosse next year to eventually grow into a full program.
“We’re incredibly proud of the girls and the coaches,” Mr. Farkas said. “It’s a challenge to start up a new team. I think this is going to be one of our great programs in Amityville. Watching a game, it felt like lacrosse was always here.”