North Shore readies for playoffs

In Nassau County’s girls’ lacrosse ‘ability based’ conferences, North Shore has earned membership into the best of the best. Within Conference I, the Lady Vikings sit at 3-6 with one game left on their regular-season schedule: Syosset.

Syosset is a very experienced and skilled team that has a winning record within Conference I (5-3.) Since their initial season-opening three-game winning streak, Syosset has alternated wins and losses every game. Their most recent result was a win over Port Washington.

However, this regular season isn’t defined by wins and losses for the Lady Vikings, but experiences and firsts.

“I was able to take the girls down to Maryland to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and play on the field that they just renovated,” said coach Megan McCormack, her district’s chairperson for the national lacrosse program. “We played some really great games against some good lacrosse programs, and we held our own.”

Tierney Field, the newly renovated stadium, has a capacity of roughly 1,500 and hosts dozens of colleges and high schools per season and the games schedule run on a weekly basis. It also is the host location for the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. North Shore played two games at Tierney Field, including a 15-5 win over The Catholic School.

“They scored their five goals early, and it was close until we took a 9-5 lead at half,” McCormack said. “From that point on, we just didn’t look back. We scored six unanswered goals in the second half.”

Kylee Colbert led all scorers on the day with five goals. Kylee, one of three Colbert sisters on North Shore, has been stupendous for the squad. She boasts 41 goals and 6 assists on the season. She is not the only effective Colbert sister, though. Her siblings Caitlin and Casey have been matchup nightmares and thorns in opposing coach’s sides as well.

Caitlin has racked up 27 goals and 17 assists, while Casey has amassed 23 goals and 12 assists. The Colbert’s collective 91 goals account for just over 69 percent of North Shore’s total goal share thus far in the regular season.

Olivia Schatz, Kate Gilliam and Andrea Liotta have been key pieces in any and all of North Shore’s success this year. Emma Russo averages under 10 saves a game, and that is partly due to the defensive effort headed by Liotta.

Even with success in Nassau’s toughest public-school conference, McCormack still stresses playing a complete game.

“We still are working on playing a full 50 [minutes],” McCormack said. “We key in on focus, little things like getting 50/50 balls, winning draws, staying consistent, and I think with the girls’ togetherness they’ve been working towards that.”

Last year, North Shore’s warmup shirts referenced their desire to play a ‘full 50’. This season, McCormack says their warmup shirts read something else entirely: “Never sleep,” McCormack said. “Because it kind of shows that these girls are working extremely hard, early in the morning, midday, late at night it doesn’t matter. They are working towards being better.”