Brighid Smith, Juliana Cerasi realize a dream as Wantagh defeats Manhasset for Nassau Class C title

Wantagh girls lacrosse players Brighid Smith and Juliana Cerasi remember seeing their sisters have their seasons ended by Manhasset. They also remembered seeing their sisters win Wantagh’s 2015 county championship. Entering this spring, both four-year varsity players only had the lower of the two in common with their sisters.

Not anymore.

Although it came nearly 24 hours after the opening draw, No. 2 Wantagh defeated top-seeded Manhasset, 11-10, in the Nassau Class C girls lacrosse final on Thursday afternoon at Adelphi.

“Everyone just did it for each other,” said Smith, a senior defender. “It’s always been, ‘We’d get so close but then it’d be cut short,’ so this year we knew we wanted to finish the job.”

Wantagh captured its first county championship since 2017 and snapped Manhasset’s streak of five straight county titles. Wantagh lost to Manhasset in each of the last three postseasons.

“We knew we were just going to have to want it more today and it’s just the most surreal feeling because I’ve been dreaming of this moment ever since I was a kid and watching my sisters play at Adelphi,” Smith said. “And now that me and my team are able to accomplish that, it’s just so great.”

Wantagh (12-4) advances to play Sayville (18-0) in the Long Island Class C final/Southeast Regional final at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Longwood. Neither Wantagh nor Sayville has won a Long Island championship in program history.

The Nassau Class C final began on Wednesday night but heavy rains and lightning caused a postponement until Thursday at 2 p.m. Wantagh led 7-5 with 6:56 left in the third quarter at the time of the postponement, but the weather delay may have been exactly what Wantagh needed.

Manhasset (11-6) scored its third goal in a span of 59 seconds to cut Wantagh’s lead to 7-5 before a Wantagh timeout and the ensuing weather delay.

“It was honestly really lucky,” said Cerasi, who scored three goals. “We could have held them without that weather break, but it really allowed us to think for a second and give us that quick news flash that we had to reset and we did.”

Riley Forthofer had two goals and two assists, Sienna Diglio had three goals and Isabella Sandoval had two goals and an assist for Wantagh. Amanda Coppola had five saves, including four in the final 19 minutes played on Thursday. Diglio scored with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter before Manhasset rallied and scored the final three goals.

Cerasi scored Wantagh’s first goal on Thursday to take an 8-5 advantage.

“We were nervous (today) but we were also excited because they did have some momentum yesterday,” Cerasi said. “Coming into today, we knew we needed to score first and that’s what we did. We kept that energy up. It was the last time we could have been playing together and thankfully it wasn’t.”

Shea Panzik scored with 1:42 left in the fourth quarter to cut Wantagh’s lead to 11-10 and after Manhasset won the draw control, Cersai scooped up a ground ball with a minute left and Wantagh never lost possession.

Coach Lauren Ruppert said the championship was a huge moment for the entire program.

“A lot of the younger girls come to our games and they look up to them and I think for (the players), they are always in their head about a lot of things,” Ruppert said. “And I think this a real pick-me-up for us as a program and our JV program and for everyone who is watching and is going to play for the Wantagh program.”

Despite not winning a county title since 2017, Smith believed her final year could break the trend.

“We have so much faith in each other,” Smith said. “I think we are the underdogs and we were kind of underrated this year but we knew in our hearts if we outworked everyone, we’d be able to get the job done and that’s what we did.”

Ruppert agreed.

“They just had ‘it,’” she said. “From the minute they stepped on the field this year, I just knew it. They have such great individual skill and they are such a force when they play together and they play together all the time. They proved they wanted this.”