Manhasset girls lacrosse gets winner from Harper Lambert, defense nails down victory over Massapequa

Harper Lambert had practiced this move hundreds, maybe thousands, of times for this specific moment. The score was tied in the closing minutes and the Manhasset junior knew she was the one capable of changing that.

“I just saw the left side was open and I had trust in myself that I was going to make it,” Lambert said. “I knew my teammates had trust in me that I was going to convert it and I just shot it.”

That trust was warranted as Lambert delivered the winning goal off a run from behind the net and shot to the top-right corner to break a tie at 6 as host Manhasset defeated Massapequa, 7-6, in Nassau Conference I girls lacrosse action on Tuesday.

Lambert scored with 4:21 left in the fourth quarter and the Manhasset defense stunted Massapequa from there.

“I practice that move a lot,” Lambert said. “I had confidence in myself that I was going to convert.”

Manhasset (6-0, 3-0) rallied from a challenging third quarter when Set saw their 4-2 halftime lead turn into a 5-4 deficit entering the final period. But Elim Yang scored back-to-back goals to open the fourth quarter to give Manhasset a 6-5 lead with 8:42 left.

Natalie Byrns answered with a free-position goal with 6:10 left to tie the score for Massapequa before Lambert’s winning goal.

Massapequa (4-3, 1-2) generated another free position following Lambert’s goal, but Ruby Cacioppo made one of her nine saves with four minutes left to preserve the victory.

“Whenever it’s a free position, I just think, ‘For my team,’” Cacioppo said. “It’s a team play and I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I’m just telling myself, ‘For my team, for my team’ because it’s not about me.”

Yang finished with three goals and one assist and Lambert had two goals. Byrns scored four goals for Massapequa.

“It was a very gritty win and I’m very proud of my team,” Lambert said. “We all trusted each other and you could really see that today. After they scored a goal, we would just come together and say we have the next one. We kept thinking about the next play.”

Alexia Giannakopoulos had a pivotal caused turnover and clear with 3:20 left and Casey Im had a ground ball with 30 seconds left as two defensive plays to help secure the victory.

“Our defense just stayed after it,” coach Tom Campolettano said. “They kept going, they kept encouraging one another. You could point to the defensive end of the field, but it was 12 people on the field and a group on the sidelines and it was a total team effort.”