Carle Place field hockey wins 12th straight Nassau title as Isabella Cunha notches two assists in balanced effort
Carle Place wins the Nassau High School field hockey Class C final on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. Credit: /Derrick Dingle
The Carle Place field hockey team stepped onto the turf Thursday night ready to travel the path to another county crown, knowing exactly how to reach the throne.
The top-seeded Frogs defeated No. 2 Cold Spring Harbor, 5-0, in the Nassau Class C championship game at Berner Middle School in Massapequa, securing the program’s 12th consecutive county title.
“Every year, the score is different,” senior forward Isabella Cunha said. “We learn a lot every year and have a lot of energy when we get here. It’s always a privilege and we’ve learned to never be complacent because Cold Spring Harbor is always here to give us a good fight.”
Carle Place (12-3) defeated Cold Spring Harbor (4-9) twice in the regular season — a final-minute 1-0 win followed by a dominating 7-1 victory less than two weeks later. Cunha said the team switched to a different offensive layout after the 1-0 win that helped them finish on penalty corners.
“That was a big turning point for us,” midfielder Luna Coronel said. “We found our strengths not only individually but as a team. We’ve been preparing for this day, and to complete everything we practiced feels amazing.”
The Frogs controlled possession early, with Coronel using hard passes to move the ball from the midline into scoring position. With 6:58 left in the first quarter, Cunha found Coronel’s long pass before sending the ball to Marissa Nosovitch in front of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Cunha fired a cross to Emi Coronel, Luna’s sister, for another goal. Grace Esposito then launched the ball off the stick of a defender and over Cold Spring Harbor keeper Louisa Melendez to extend the lead to 3-0 with 4:47 left in the first half.
Cold Spring Harbor earned its first corner with 12:22 left in the third quarter, but Frogs goalkeeper Megan Rice made a crucial kick save.
Amanda DeMarco scored with 10:10 left in the game. Sofia Henglein added a final goal with 1:47 left.
Melendez made six saves for Cold Spring Harbor. Senior defender Anne Tauckus made six defensive stops in front of the cage, including a diving one during one of Carle Place’s 10 corners.
Carle Place will face Pierson/ Bridgehampton (8-9) in the Long Island championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday at Berner Middle School. The Frogs are looking to win their eighth Long Island title since 2016.
