Ali Howell starts and finishes the scoring for Sachem East in shootout win over Manhasset
Sachem East's Ali Howell and Manhasset's Despina Giannakopoulos fight for control of the ball in front of the Manhasset goal on Monday at Sachem East. Credit: George A Faella
Ali Howell started and finished the scoring for Sachem East Monday.
The junior midfielder scored the tying goal for Sachem East and had the final goal in a shootout as host Sachem East defeated Manhasset in a non-league matchup of two of the top field hockey teams on Long Island.
The two teams played to a 1-1 tie before Sachem East won the shootout, 4-2.
"I love being a part of a hard game like this," Howell said. "I love to be able to put my all on the field with my team so it was great to get the win today."
Lauren Lucas got Sachem East off to a strong start in the shootout with an opening goal.
"I think it was good because it set the tone that we got this, we’re comfortable, we’re confident," Lucas said. "My team has my back, I knew the rest of the girls behind me were going to get theirs in also."
Shannon Abraldes and Caroline Aspuru also scored in the shootout for Sachem East (8-1).
Dominique Randall and Julia Cafasso scored in the shootout for Manhasset (6-2).
Lily Klimuszko opened the scoring to give Manhasset a 1-0 lead with 8:03 remaining in the first quarter. Sachem East evened the score at 1 with Howell’s goal off an assist from Daniella Neiva with 5:01 remaining in the first quarter.
"I know how to be ready with my stick down in the circle," Howell said. "And I just started moving to it, moved around the goalie and was able to put it in the back of the net."
"She’s feisty and she’s fun and she’s a gamer," coach Tina Moon said of Howell. "She loves to get into that competitive nature so it was a great night for her."
Manhasset won last year’s Long Island Class B title. Sachem East won the Long Island Class A championship in 2019.
"It was a really good test for us and I feel we learned a lot," Moon said. "We will take away a lot and hopefully this will help us elevate things we need to do."
"We know it’s not over yet and we’re not done yet," Lucas said. "There’s more things we need to work harder on. There’s no stopping until it’s that last game of the season."