Westhampton Beach Lacrosse Teams Aiming For Deeper Postseason Runs

The Westhampton Beach girls lacrosse team is ranked number one in Class B heading into this season, a fact that could be considered a point of pride for the squad, an early sort of feather in its cap.

For head coach Mary Bergmann, it is entirely inconsequential.

“Pre-season ranking, in the grand scheme of things, means nothing,” she said. “We have to show up, put in the work, and take every day one at a time.”

What matters most to Bergmann and her team is letting that one-step-at-a-time philosophy guide them to a place they’re hoping to return to for the first time since 2018: the Suffolk County Class B Championship game.

“Since our county championship appearance in 2018, we have been trying to get back there,” Bergmann said. “This is a team that I know can accomplish that, but it takes hard work and getting better every single day.”

Westhampton Beach lost a few key seniors to graduation, including All-County and All-American Honorable Selection player Maureen Duffy, who led the team with 53 goals and is now playing at the University of Virginia, All-County and Academic All-American Jackie Amato (15 goals, 8 assists), now playing at Holy Cross, and Kyleigh Tufano, (29 goals), now playing at Fairfield.

But the team has brought back plenty of talent that helped it earn that top preseason ranking in Class B, and a ranking of fourth overall in Division II.

All-County midfielder Olivia Rongo — who will play at James Madison University next year — led the team in assists (29), draw controls (63), groundballs (33) and caused turnovers (29), while also scoring 17 goals last season. Another junior, Reilly Mahon — attending Loyola College next year — is back and had 11 groundballs, 10 caused turnovers, and 20 draw controls as a defender last season. All-League senior attack player Lily Berchin had eight goals and 20 assists last year and returns to the team, along with a pair of young players who had an immediate impact on the varsity last year: freshman Reese King and eighth-grader Ava Derby. Both players were named to the All-Rookie team last season while playing on attack, and both are moving to the midfield this year. King had 16 goals and 6 assists last year as an eighth-grader, while Derby had 7 goals, 5 assists and 13 groundballs as a seventh-grader last season.

One notable newcomer to varsity is freshman Maya Farnan, who will be the team’s starting goalie. She has been on the JV the last two years, and Bergmann said she is ready to be an impact goalie as a freshman.

While the preseason rankings indicate that the Hurricanes will be one of the top teams in the division, Bergmann expects every game to be a battle.

“Honestly, everyone we play is competition this year,” she said. “This is our hardest strength of schedule and realistically anyone can win any game. We expect Bayport, Mount Sinai, West Babylon, Eastport-South Manor, Shoreham-Wading River and Comsewogue to all be really tough competition, but we are heading into every single game this year with the mentality that games are 50/50 and we need to earn the win.”

The Hurricanes were scheduled to start the season with a non-league home game against Riverhead at 4 p.m. on March 25, and will host East Islip at noon on March 26. They will travel to face Sayville on March 29 at 4 p.m.

Westhampton Beach boys lacrosse coach Drew Peters is expecting the experience and leadership of a class of 15 seniors will help push the Hurricanes boys lacrosse team back to the playoffs this season and possibly beyond the first-round loss it suffered at the hands of Harborfields last year.

Westhampton lost seniors Aidan Cassara, Jackson Hulse, Rob Moore, Jack Moloney and Peter Traina to graduation. Cassara is now playing at University of Tampa, Moore is at Fairfield, and Traina is at Stony Brook. Moore, an All-County player last year, led the team in points (49) with 25 goals and a team-leading 24 assists, while Traina, also an All-County player, led the team in goals (28).

On attack, the Hurricanes bring back All-Division player Dan Naglieri, who had 9 goals and 16 assists last year, as well as Gavin Arcuri, who had 8 goals and 8 assists.

Chris Koltzan is the only returning starter in the midfield, and had 8 goals and an assist last year. Peters is expecting Aidan Kellachan and Vin Pesce, who came off the bench last year, to have a bigger role in the midfield this season alongside Koltzan, as well as Chance Brindle — a transfer from Southampton — and face-off specialists Rob Moreland and Nolan Michalowski.

Defense will be a strength for Westhampton Beach, as the team brings back its entire starting lineup from that part of the field. Liam McMunn was All-County Honorable Mention, Division II Rookie of the Year and represented Suffolk County in the New York State Regional Tournament last season and will lead the defense along with Ethan Faralan, Geoff Arrasate, Christian Killoran and Alessandro Morabito. In goal, seniors Conor Farnan and Jake Dagata, who split time last year, will be back.

The senior leadership has Peters expecting an even better showing than last year’s 7-7 record and first-round playoff loss.

“Our goal is always playoffs, but we have the experience to have a very solid year,” he said. “We have a good core group of players and our team chemistry has been great so far.”

Within Class B, Westhampton Beach will see a strong challenge from Comsewogue, West Islip, Smithtown West, East Islip and Hauppauge in particular, while Mount Sinai, Shoreham, and Bayport figure to be the top Class C teams in the division.

“We feel we can compete with those teams and are excited to get the season started,” Peters said.

The Hurricanes were slated to host the South Fork boys lacrosse team (comprised of players from Southampton, East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Pierson, Ross and Hampton Bays) on March 24 at 5 p.m. and will visit Lindenhurst for another non-league game on March 26 at 10 a.m. They will travel to face Shoreham on March 30 at 4 p.m.