Lily Krollage's five goals lead Babylon girls lacrosse to program's first Suffolk championship

This was anybody’s Suffolk Class D girls lacrosse championship with 5 1/2 minutes left Wednesday night at Longwood, two tough teams tied in a rematch of the 2023 final.

Defending champ Mattituck/Southhold/Greenport was staying glued to Babylon standout senior midfielder Sophia Conti, so the Panthers needed someone else to take a step forward.

“(Conti) always tells me to step up when I need to,” sophomore midfielder Lily Krollage said. “Just losing to them last year was a lot more fire in us all to get (this) one.”

Krollage scored the tiebreaking goal, then added her fifth of the game. And second-seeded Babylon went on to make program history, claiming its first county title with an 11-8 win over the top-seeded Tuckers.

“We’ve had a lot of great players come through here,” Panthers coach Chris Ryan said. “Just being able to win the county championship on Long Island says a lot about these kids.”

The Virginia-bound Conti contributed three first-half goals, and sophomore midfielder Peyton Logue-Boyd had one goal and four assists.

“I’ve been on this team (since) seventh grade,” Conti said. “Each goal was to get to the county championship and win. It took a lot of grit and it took a lot of dedication, and this is just the right group of girls.”

The Panthers (10-7) will go after a Long Island D championship on June 1 back at Longwood. They will face the winner of Tuesday’s Nassau final between Cold Spring Harbor and Carle Place.

“We are not done,” Conti said. “We’re still dancing. This is just a little snack to the main dinner.”

Gianna Calise scored her fifth goal to give the Tuckers an 8-7 edge with 6:31 left. But Brooke Kenedy countered 42 seconds later with the equalizer.

Then Krollage made a move into the middle and scored — it was 9-8, with 5:05 to go.

Then Krollage crossed from the left to the middle and scored — 10-8, 4:11 to go.

Logue-Boyd spun in front for the final goal — 11-8, 3:25 left. It was Babylon’s largest lead of the game.

The Panthers led 3-2 after one quarter and 6-5 at halftime. It was tied 7-7 after three.

“I just told the girls, ‘One game doesn’t define us,’ ” Tuckers coach Logan McGinn said. “We had a very successful season, going 11 and (six). … Unfortunately, we came up short. But it doesn’t change how proud I am of this team.”