In case there were any doubters who believed Suffern was too young to succeed this season, the Mounties did a good job of shutting them up today. Suffern manhandled Brewster, a team that is a legitimate contender in Class B. Section 1 you’ve been warned: The young guns are for real.
Below is colleague Nancy Haggerty’s game story.
SUFFERN The game, not including stoppages, was officially 50 minutes long.
But the reality Monday was that Caitlin Leary and her friends ensured it was over in little more than 10 minutes.
Leary scored six goals in the first half and seven overall as the Suffern girls lacrosse team crushed Brewster, 19-6.
The first half was so lopsided — Suffern leading 12-3 at the break — that less than midway through it, with his team down 8-1, Bears coach Gerry Walsh told his players, “It’s like we never played the game.”
Indeed, for the first half and most of the game, the Mounties (6-2) dominated.
Behind 6-foot-1 freshman Elizabeth Trojan, Suffern enjoyed a 12-2 advantage in draws at halftime and a 17-6 edge for the game.
“They got the draws. They had the ball,” Walsh said, while also lamenting the Bears’ inability to follow their pregame plan to stop not only Leary but also Baley Parrott and Dana Gisonno, who each scored four times.
“She’s just a sweet player,” Suffern coach John Callanan said of the sophomore Leary. “She’s very savvy. She can do things with a stick most kids can’t. She’s weaving through kids. She creates something out of nothing.”
In fact, it took Leary less than a minute and a half to put the Mounties on the board. Three minutes and two Suffern goals later, she netted her second, beating Bears starting goalie Erica Marlowe high.
A beautiful feed from Gisonno to the cutting Leary made it a 5-1 game with more than 19 minutes left in the first half.
Leary scored her fifth goal, faking left and cutting right to the middle, after a great save by Suffern starting goalie Mikaila Cheeseman on Brynn Bottalico.
“They have a lot more talent than we do,” Walsh said, adding his 2-4-1 squad’s shooting was “horrendous.”
“Against a really good team, one-on-one with the goalie, you’ve got to stick it,” Walsh said.
The Bears’ Lilly Lleshaj and Kristen Ohberg each scored twice, Ohberg’s second coming early in the second half after she eluded two defenders.
Cheeseman (six saves) and Mary Martin (three) earned praise from Callanan.
Of Trojan’s work on the draws, he added, “It changes the dynamic of the game. It gives us confidence.”
Her seven goals were a single-game high for Leary, who has been playing lacrosse since the second grade and on the varsity since the eighth.
Explaining her elusiveness, she smiled and said, “Usually I wiggle through people.”
Of her team, she said, “We’re looking to win. We’re going full speed.”
Photos courtesy of Matthew Brown/The Journal News. For the entire gallery click here.
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