Girls lacrosse; With players out sick or hurt, Yorktown shows depth in 8-5 win over Somers

SOMERS — Athletes tend to have long memories.

And the Yorktown girls lacrosse team is no exception.

It could have entered Thursday's game at Somers thinking about its two straight recent losses to strong teams from outside the area.

It could have focused on the larger picture — the fact it had only lost one game to a Section 1 opponentt, Rye romping over the Huskers.

Or it could have worried about four key players being sidelined for the game by injury or illness.

But , instead, a rregular-season game last May that proved pretty inconsequential in a season in which the Huskers won the Section 1 Class B title, was being mentally chewed on by many Huskers.

"I feel like we were really excited. We lost to them by a goal last year and we're rivals and this was their Senior Night," Annie Cuneen said.

And so, Yorktown came out of the gate hard. It grabbed an early 3-0 lead before the Tuskers played it even on the scoreboard from there on out.

The final was 8-5 Yorktown.

What it means

"It was a great team win," said Cuneen, who opened the scoring for Yorktown with 9:44 left in the first quarter and finished with a game-high four goals.

It was also a win that lifted the Class B squad to 10-3 on the season.

Somers, which has been in almost every game, sujffering two one-goal losses and now two three-goal losses, fell to 5-5.

Game highlights

Before Somers called an early timeout to regroup, Yorktown had added two goals by Lily Diaz, one of an 8-meter free chance and the other off a nice Ava Ryan feed.

But just as Somers was blanked in the first quarter, the Tuskers blanked Yorktown in the second, while also scoring twice to cut its halftime lead to 3-2.

In the closing half minute of the first quarter, Tusker keeper Campbell Sternberg made a fine save on Ryan.

She did the same early on in the second.

And Somers found offence with Sydney Ingraham socirng off a free 8-meter and 26 seconds later, Molly Fink beating Yortown's defense and its goalie, Annie Durante, with a nice move coming from behind tehe net, in front with a shot high to finish.

Bur Durante, starting in place of Maggie Appelle, who was out with a concussion but on hand, helping with scorekeeping, started shutting the Tuskers down, getting stronger the more shots she faced.

She stopped a good, low chance, then stoned Caitlyn Mayfield on another shot that seemed bound for the back of the net.

Yorktown scored four times in the third quarter with Ava Cuneen netting the first two and Annie Cunneen the other two.

Annie Cuneen's second of the quarter was big, coming with just eight seconds left and answering an Ingraham lgoal ittle more than a minute earlier.

Annie Cunneen extended the Huskers' lead to 8-3 in the final quarter before Lila Mancini scored for Somers off a Fink feed and Emily Snyder scored off a free eight-meter for the Tuskers.

But Snyder's goal came with just 1:33 left and with Diaz winning the ball off the ensuing draw, Yorktown essentially sealed the win.

Both goalies were solid. Sternberg stopped seven shots and Durange recorded eight saves.

Quotables

Fink, who'll play next year for Division I Holy Cross, pointed to the game as a potential building block for the Tuskers.

"They play really high-pressure defense and I think that going the rest of the season and post-season, we'll use that as a learning experience (against good teams) and just play up," she said.

Yorktown coach Heather Raniolo was pleased how her healthy kids had overcome the absence of several key players, including three of the team's four captatins.

"The youngsters wer stepping up and gaining more confidence," she said.

Durante, a three-year goalie, who was making her first start, also liked what she saw.

"For our team, it's phenomenal," she said. "It helps us grow and learn. As an individual, it's unbelievable."

And Annie Cunneen pointed to things getting even better with teammates on the mend.

"We'll have our full team soon," she said.

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Up next

Yorktown will host upstate Shaker at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Somers is scheduled to play at Horace Greeley Tuesday in a 4:30 p.m.. start.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Girls lacrose: Annie Cuneen leads player-depleted Yorktown past Somers