Wantagh Girls Lacrosse Players Sign to Play at College Level

The girls lacrosse team will have a special senior class this coming spring fresh off an appearance in last year's Nassau County title game, and many of these talented Lady Warriors will soon be taking their skills to the collegiate level.

Five Wantagh girls lacrosse players thus far have signed letters of intents at Division I colleges to continue their lacrosse careers beyond high school graduation with other seniors still in the recruiting process and exploring where to play. The Wantagh players who have signed national letters of intent so far include midfielders Paula Schmidt (North Carolina), April Iannetta (Hofstra), Brianna Schussler (Sacred Heart) and Alexandra Rousseau (Manhattan) along with goalie Kelly Keenan (Sacred Heart).

Schmidt, Iannetta, Schussler, Rousseau and Keenan helped lead Wantagh to a successful 13-4 record last season that saw the Lady Warriors fall to Garden City in the Nassau County title game 20-13. Schmidt became the first Wantagh girls lacrosse player to earn First-Team All-American honors after scoring 55 goals and tallying 46 assists last season.

With so many collegiate-bound lacrosse players on its roster expectations will be sky high for Wantagh in 2011. Wantagh girls lacrosse head coach Bobbi Colavita said what makes her 2011 senior class so special is how much of the group has been playing together going back to youth league creating solid chemistry on and off the field. The senior class has also overcome off the field obstacles such when the athletics program at Wantagh was in danger of disappearing in 2008 but later salvaged from community fundraising after the district was forced onto an austerity budget, and the realignment of conferences based on enrollment rather than ability.

"This group has been achieving levels of accomplishments since the seventh grade, overcoming expectations, austerity, and now, the re-alignment of the conferences," said Coach Colavita. "These girls come to play everyday accepting all these challenges and striving to do their best."