Farmingdale girls lacrosse overwhelms Syosset, will face Massapequa in Nassau Class A title game

It’s been a rough last few seasons by the standard set by previous Farmingdale girls lacrosse teams. But this year’s Dalers group was determined to return Farmingdale to their winning ways. That mission continues into the final

Third-seeded Farmingdale defeated No. 2 Syosset, 19-12, at Adelphi on Wednesday evening to advance to its first girls lacrosse Nassau Class A championship game since 2019. The Dalers dominated from the opening whistle and had five players score at least three goals.

“With these tough past few years, we didn’t think we’d get here,” said Carly Livingston, who had three goals. “We were a little weaker the last few years but just to get here is amazing. We didn’t think we’d get here and now that we are is unreal.”

Farmingdale (11-7) advances to play top-seeded Massapequa (9-5) in the Nassau Class A final at Adelphi Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Massapequa has won the last two Nassau Class A crowns. 

“I think it’s going to be pretty tough, but we can hang in there,” Livingston said. “If we keep playing like we have, I think we’ll do pretty well. We can compete with them.”

Farmingdale utilized multiple scorers on Wednesday. Ashlinn Kelly had five goals, Isabella Recce scored four goals and Briana Bellando and Juliann Brezski each added three goals.

“Everyone is amazing and we know anyone can score,” Livingston said. “No one is out there playing alone. We all play as a team and scoring 19 goals in a playoff game is almost unreal.”

“We have so many different players,” coach Melanie Raso said. “We don’t just have one player to rely on, like so many other teams where you have that one player and you lock them off and the rest kind of crumbles. We have seven offensive players that are all huge contributors.”

Farmingdale went on a 7-0 scoring run over 6:30 to open an 8-2 lead with 11:18 left in the first half. The Dalers led 10-5 at halftime and led by at least four goals the remainder of the contest.

“We really worked as a team today,” Kelly said. “We held the ball until the right possession and we didn’t force it. Everyone got touches.”

Julie Shaughnessy had four goals and Carly Greenbaum added three goals for Syosset (9-8). Alena Godas added a goal and four assists for Farmingdale.

Farmingdale won one game in Conference I in 2021 before finishing 6-10 overall with a drop to Conference II last season. They remember watching the 2019 team win a county title and have heard the stories of the dominant Farmingdale Long Island champion teams from 2006-2010. They want to be the next in that lineage. 

“Just having that pressure and not living up to it, it was hard but it’s not like we haven’t tried,” Livingston said. “We always worked hard, we just haven’t lived up to that but we definitely lived up to it this year.”