Long Island is well represented at the NCAA women's lacrosse Final Four

Boston College women’s lacrosse head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein wasn’t happy with her team’s effort. It was Wednesday afternoon, and the Eagles were practicing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, roughly a half hour drive from WakeMed Soccer Park, the site of this weekend’s NCAA Final Four.

It was hot and humid. Players sprayed each other with water bottles to keep cool. And, when it came to scooping up ground balls and maintaining possession in drills, the effort was a bit lackluster in the practice’s waning minutes.

“Get it!” Walker-Weinstein yelled at her team. “Why is only one person fighting for the ball?”

Whistle. Reset. Time to go harder.

Luckily, some of Boston College’s stars, like Belle Smith (Westhampton Beach), Emma LoPinto (Manhasset), Kayla Martello (Rockville Centre), Cassidy Weeks (Bayport) and Hunter Roman (St. James), may have a secret advantage — they all grew up in Long Island.

“I’m honestly just super grateful to be able to grow up on Long Island with that competition,” Smith said. “I think it’s what makes players great and want to compete at the next level. I’m super honored to be a part of that.”

Boston College’s roster, like those of the other three teams playing in Friday's NCAA semifinals in Cary, North Carolina — top-seeded Northwestern, Florida, and BC’s opponent, Syracuse — is peppered with Long Islanders. It’s a list that includes some of the top players in the country: Northwestern’s 2024 Tewaaraton Award finalist Madison Taylor (Wantagh), along with nominees Katie Goodale (Riverhead) and Emma Tyrrell (Mount Sinai) of Syracuse, Emily Heller (Babylon) of Florida and Smith (Westhampton Beach) of Boston College.

“That just shows how dominant Long Island is [and] what they’re able to bring to the table on the national stage,” Syracuse senior attacker Emma Ward of Babylon said. “It just shows how important Long Island is to the growth of the sport.”

In Friday’s doubleheader — which leads off with Northwestern vs. Florida at 3 p.m. followed by Boston College vs. Syracuse at 5:30 p.m. —  there are a total of 32 players from Long Island. And then there are the coaches. Boston College assistant coach Sam Apuzzo and Florida assistant coach Christina Esposito are from West Babylon, Florida assistant coach Nicole Levy is from East Islip and Syracuse assistant coach Caitlin Defliese Watkins was an associate head coach at Stony Brook University.

For some players, they’ll be facing off against old high school opponents and teammates. That’s the case for Ward, who’s looking forward to potentially playing against Taylor, her former club teammate, on Sunday. But, to get to the title game, Ward will have to go through Boston College and LoPinto -  one of Ward’s training partners.

“Once we get on the field — no tough love — but it’s a competition and we both want to win,” Ward said. “But I know as soon as the whistle blows, she’s back to being one of my close friends.”

Said Walker-Weinstein of the impact the area has on the game: “The culture [on] Long Island is one of elite competitors, in particular for the sport of lacrosse. I love having our Long Island girls. I think they bring the BC competitive energy that we expect. When you recruit sometimes in other places, you don’t know if you’re going to get that. But I think, out of the Long Island girls, you know you’re going to have it.”