Girls lacrosse: No. 1 Nyack strikes early but is given a game before beating Yorktown 10-7

YORKTOWN — When you're down 6-1 at the end of one quarter of play to a team that's beating its opponents by an average of nine-and-a-half goals a game, things don't look good.

Even if your goalie made two very good saves right before the horn to keep it a five-goal difference.

But one quarter does not a game make.

At least not Tuesday's girls lacrosse game between Journal News/lohud No. 1 ranked Nyack and host No. 4 Yorktown.

A few more horns later, and both teams left the field with what could be argued were wins.

Yorktown exited on the short end of a 10-7 score but bouyed with its last regular-season game before playoffs showing it can pretty much play with anyone.

And Nyack?

Well, the very young RedHawks may have had some uncharacteristic turnovers, but they left with their 14th win of the season against only one loss and their undefeated season in Section 1 intact.

Wins all around.

Game highlights

Class B Yorktown, now 12-4, hadn't played Class C Nyack this season but that didn't mean there wasn't familiarity.

Multiple players from both sides are teammates on the elite PrimeTime lacrosse club.

Still, it took a full quarter for Yorktown to adust to Nyack's fast, pin-point-passing, quick-hit offensive game.

With the score knotted at one after Yorktown's Annie Cunneen buried a shot off a nice Lily Diaz feed, Kayleigh Cassidy, sisters Kate Gould, Ella Gould and Abby Gould and then an absolute laser of a shot from Kate Gould again gave Nyack its five-goal advantage.

It wasn't that Yorktown was sleepwalking.

Nyack was just that good.

And Nyack netminder Keira Furey also had a nice save on Ava Cunneen when Nyack was up only 2-1.

Husker goalie Maggie Appelle, who got stronger as the game went on, didn't have much chance on some of Nyack's early goals, including Kate Gould's quick hit off an Ella Gould pass off an 8-meter free setup and Abby Gould's on-the-run quick strike off a perfect Lila Gilbert feed.

But the first quarter was the last time Yorktown seemed overmatched.

Yorktown coach Heather Raniolo calmed her troupes down at the break.

"After the first quarter, they got mentally tough," she said of her team, explaining her squad "came into the game with a little nerves and fear."

While never really on the cusp of challenging for the win, Yorktown outscored Nyack 6-4 the rest of the way.

Both goalies were solid and sometimes beyond that.

Appelle, who finished with 14 saves, helped right Yorktown's ship early in the second quarter with a nice stop on Abby Gould, who'd gotten a perfect feed from Ella Gould.

The half would end with Nyack up 8-4, the Huskers scoring three goals off 8-meter free chances and Nyack's top goals coming off Abby Gould's move inside past two defenders and Gilbert's great fake-high/go-low score from off the right post.

But Yorktown's defense, which would limit the RedHawks to just two second-half goals, started to become a huge part of the game.

In the last minute of the first half, Annie Cunneen picked off a pass deep in her defensive zone that not only possibly prevented a goal but also led to a sweet Ava Ryan 8-meter score about 25 seconds later. And Diaz also had an interception deep in the Husker D zone with just a couple of seconds left.

Yorktown never got closer than three goals down, which it first did in the third quarter when Sofia Boucher cutting Nyack's lead to 8-5 by losing her hounding defender, going behind the RedHawk cage and quickly coming out front to fire a shot in.

Part of the reason the Huskers could get close but not close ehough to smell an upset was Furey's play. The lone starting senior on the RedHawks, she had 11 saves, perhaps none better than on Diaz, who ripped a shot in after getting a rebound off the right post with 3:38 left in the third quarter.

Nyack's last goal came early in the fourth quarter and was, simply, unstoppable.

Taking a feed from Casey Cummings, who also assisted on Nyack's previous goal with a similar, quick, pin-point pass, Ella Gould fired a missle high over Appelle.

Yorktown did have more highlight moments, though, including when Diaz's strong stick check caused a turnover that saw Reileigh McEnroe run perhaps 40 yards with the ball before firing the Huskers' sixth goal into the net to make it a 10-6 game.

For Nyack, which is scheduled to host Tappan Zee Wednesday in its regular-season finale, Abby Gould fnished with a game-high three goals.

Ella Gould had two goals and two assists and beat Yorktown to three balls off the draw.

Cassidy and Kate Gould both had two goals and an assist and Kate Gould also got two draw balls and two ground balls.

Cummings had one goal, three assists and won the race to six balls off the draw.

And Gilbert had a goal and an assist.

Ava Cunneen led Yorktown with two goals.

Annie Cunneen had a goal, three balls won off the draw, one ground ball and a caused turnover.

Brienna Gaccino had one goal and Ryan, Boucher and McEnroe had their solo tallies and McEnroe secured four balls off the draw and Ryan also got one ball off the draw.

And Diaz had one assist, one draw ball win and two caused turnovers.

Quotables

"They're just a great team. The whole game they competed," Ella Gould said of Yorktown. "We were all fighting hard. It was a good, honest effort."

Referring to her team's age, the sophomore noted it starts four eighth-graders but, iniitally a hard transition, has made that work with the team's veterans "really pushing (them) to gain confidence."

"Age is just a number. It doesn't matter," she said.

"That was great," Ava Cunneen said of the game, noting Nyack is the best team Yorktown has faced this season.

She called her Nyack PrimeTime teammates "great friends" and said having played with them ended up helping her squad anticipate some of Nyack's plays.

"(Playing Nyack,) really will help us out in the long run, getting us momentum and getting us ready to win," said Cunneen.

Hamstrung recently by illness and injury, Yorktown is now at full strength and, Cunneen said, "ready to dominate."

"I'm proud of them for their fight," Raniolo said. "They (Nyack) ove fast and we gave the same hustle back. ... I think this is a great game for us to head into the playoffs. It was a learning game."

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 .

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 lacrosse: No. 1 Nyack strikes early but is given a game before beating Yorktown 10-7