St. Anthony's Knocks Off No. 2

The St. Anthony’s bench stormed the field Saturday as if the Friars girls lacrosse team had just won a national championship. Consider it a close second.   

St. Anthony’s Coach Corinne Lomangino called the 9-8 win over No. 2 St. Stephen's and St. Ages School (Alexandria, Va.) the biggest in program history.   
 
“For us this was such a huge game,” said Lomangino, herself a former player. “Our program has never had a win this big. This is the top for us.”   

Sophomore Isabela Mangan scored what proved to be the game-winner with 2:27 left and freshman goalie Charlie Campbell made 11 saves, including two timely stops in the final moments in South Huntington.   

“It’s not about pressure,” Campbell said. “It’s not about who has the ball. It’s about stopping the ball before it gets in the net.”   

St. Anthony's, No. 10 in the LaxPower.com national ratings, improved to 9-1. The Friars, who face Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA rival Holy Trinity on Thursday, don’t play for a state championship. So Saturday’s win over the Virginia power is as good as it gets.   

St. Stephen's and St. Ages (19-1) jumped to an early 3-1 edge. But the Friars kept pace and took an 8-6 lead on North Carolina signee Maggie Bill’s goal with 21:20 left.   

“We’ve been in positions before where things are tight and momentum hasn’t gone our way and we’ve been able to turn it around,” Lomangino said. “You call on those experiences. And they played their hearts out today.”   

Bill finished with three goals while Kasey Behr and Kerri Puckhaber added two each for the Friars.   

Mangan’s go-ahead goal broke the momentum St. Stephen's and St. Ages built and proved to be the biggest in recent memory.   

“We looked at the clock and knew there wasn’t a lot of time left,” Mangan said.  

Bill found Mangan in the crease and the sophomore didn’t hesitate.   

“Pure joy,” was how Mangan described the goal.   

And now the Friars have a signature win to define 2013 and beyond.         

Girls Lacrosse 
Teams…………………………...………..1…..2 – F 
St. Stephen's and St. Ages....………6…..2 – 8 
St. Anthony’s…………….……..……...6…..3 – 9 
Goals – SSSA: Davidson 2, Dyson 2, Reed 2, Mikkelsen, Tucker-Fogarty; SA: Bill 3, Behr 2, Puckhaber 2, Chaney, Mangan. Saves – SSSA: Johns 6; SA: Campbell 11.