Bayport-Blue Point girls lacrosse earns fourth straight Suffolk Class C title
Julia Fusco of Bayport-Blue Point reacts to her first goal of the game during the Suffolk Class C girls lacrosse final between Mt. Sinai and Bayport-Blue Point at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Julia Fusco and Mikaela Mooney are always in sync.
Fusco scored all three of her goals off assists from Mooney to help top-seeded Bayport-Blue Point earn its fourth straight Suffolk Class C girls lacrosse title with an 11-4 win over No. 6 Mount Sinai late Wednesday night at Stony Brook University.
Fusco’s shots were nearly impossible to stop, as her cuts to the net were met with perfectly-timed passes from Mooney.
“She’s really good at timing her cuts,” Mooney said. “If I’m down low and I see her, I’ll just throw it right away and that’s something we work on a lot.”
“It’s simultaneous,” Fusco added. “She knows where I’m going to be and the exact time I’m going to be there.”
Mikaela Mooney of Bayport-Blue Point works the ball behind the Mt. Sinai net during the Suffolk Girls Class C lacrosse final at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Bayport will face Manhasset, a 13-12 winner Thursday night over North Shore in OT, for the Long Island Class C title at 6 p.m. Sunday at Adelphi University.
Two of Fusco’s goals came in the first half, helping the Phantom’s take an 8-1 lead into halftime. Mooney’s fourth and final assist went to Aubrie Eisfeld for the final goal of the game with 5:53 remaining.
Eisfeld had two goals and her sister, Haydin, had three goals and an assist. Katie Clare added three goals.
Anchored by goalie Felicia Giglio, the Phantoms’ defense was fantastic. Giglio made six saves and played a big role in accumulating the large first-half lead.
“Felicia saved us on a couple breakdowns early on,” coach Ryan Gick said. “But defense has been our bread and butter for a couple years. We’ve been keeping teams at four goals or less throughout the year, so we just had to be ourselves.”
It was the 12th time this season that Bayport (17-0) held an opponent to four or fewer goals.
“Any time there’s a groundball, we have five people around it,” Giglio said of the defense. “I’m always confident that they’re not going to get beat one-on-one. It makes my job easier having them in front of me.”
Alexa Spallina had two goals and an assist, and Kayli Carannante had a goal and two assists for Mount Sinai (11-6), which made the final after a pair of upset wins in the playoffs.
This Bayport run has been fueled by last year’s Long Island championship game — an 8-6 loss to Manhasset. The Phantoms are laser-focused on getting over the hump against Manhasset this Sunday.
“Last year, we all let our emotions take over in important moments,” Giglio said. “I think we’re all conscious of that, so we just have to realize that it’s another lacrosse game. It’s the same thing we’ve done all year.”
