Wantagh Girls Lacrosse Title Hopes Dashed in Semifinals

For the first 21 minutes of Wednesday’s Nassau County Class B semifinal at Adelphi University’s Motamed Field, the Wantagh girls lacrosse team appeared on its way to a second straight finals appearance before momentum quickly shifted.

After Georgetown-bound attacker Colleen Lovett capped off a 6-0 Wantagh run to give the Lady Warriors a 7-2 lead against second-seeded Manhasset, the Indians answered with a six-goal rally of their own. Manhasset, which defeated Wantagh 19-7 on April 7, showed why its one of the top programs on Long Island in outscoring the Warriors 9-3 after facing the five-goal deficit to win a back-and-forth semifinal, 11-10. The heartbreaking loss ends Wantagh’s continued quest at its first county championship since the program formed in 1997 while Manhasset moves onto the Class B title game against eight-time defending champion Garden City on May 29.

Manhasset sophomore attacker Lindsey Ronbeck tallied three goals including the game-winning score with 5:32 left to break a 10-10 tie. Junior goalie Erin Coleman replaced starter Kelsey Quackenbush in the first half and made two clutch saves down the stretch to preserve Manhasset’s win. It was the third straight year Wantagh and Manhasset had clashed on the semifinal stage with the Indians winning in 2011 and the Warriors’ posting a 17-15 victory last year before falling to Garden City in the finals.

“It is always tough playing Wantagh,” said Coleman of the many hard-fought battles Manhasset has had against the Warriors since the program moved up to Class B in 2011. “They beat us twice last year and we wanted to beat them twice this year.

Wantagh’s offense was led by four goals from Northwestern-bound senior midfielder Catie Ingrilli, whose free position tally with 6:30 left tied the game at 10-10. Iona-bound senior attacker Erin Pugh and Lovett both contributed three goals apiece in what proved to be their final high school games.

Another senior who shined for Wantagh this season and especially on Wednesday was senior goalie Sophia Gambitsky, who registered 11 saves including several from close-range. Gambitsky has committed to play netminder at at the University of Colorado, which is starting a women’s lacrosse program for the 2014 season.

Wantagh had advanced to the semifinals with a dominating playoff wins over Herricks and South Side last week. The Warriors finished 2013 12-6 while competing in Nassau County’s new 10-team “power league."