By Gene Morris
LIlacrosseNews.com, Posted 5/31/12

Dene’ DiMartino scored five goals and Dakota Mason added four to lead Eastport-South Manor to a 14-9 victory over Hauppauge tonight in the Suffolk County Class B girls’ lacrosse championship at Dowling College.

The Sharks (15-3) advance to the Long Island championship game Sunday when they will play Nassau County winner Garden City at Dowling at 2:30 p.m.

Eastport-South Manor celebrates Suffolk crown (Photo by Gene Morris)

“Going into practice this week she said she wanted it,” ESM coach Becky Thorn said of DiMartino. “Her practice was 100% – In any given day in practice you can take time off, but she was giving it day in and day out. I knew she wanted this as revenge from last year.”

The Sharks picked up revenge for last year’s 11-9 County Title loss (overtime) in impressive fashion.

Dene' DiMartino heads toward the goal in Thursday's win (Photo by Gene Morris)

It was a quick start that propelled the Sharks out in front. The teams exchanged goals early on and stood at 2-2 with just six and a half minutes into the game.

It was from there that DiMartino took over further, with a little help. Allison Gionta scored to give the Sharks the lead they would never relinquish and DiMartino added her third and fourth goals to go along with a hat trick from Dakota Mason and a tally from Katie Meinecke to go into the half up 9-2.

The Eagles had no time to recover coming out in the second half as Anjelica Fuccillo scored just 11 seconds after the opening draw to further cement the ESM advantage.

“Last time we played them the same thing happened – we came out on top early and they started to rally back but we kept exchanging goals (and that kept us in front),” Thorn said.

Taylor Ranftle – who had three goals and three assists on the day – scored for Hauppauge (16-3) to make it 10-3, but the Sharks rattled off three more goals and were on their way to victory.

“Going into this game I was a little nervous like any coach would be but in the back of my mind I had a little confidence,” Thorn said. “The kids all day long – ‘I just want to play, I just want to play’ – as a coach, me hearing that, we just wanted to come out and get it done.”

Eastport-South Manor 14, Hauppauge 9

Eastport-South Manor: 9-5-14
Hauppauge: 2-7-9

Eastport-South Manor:
Dene’ DiMartino: 5 goals
Dakota Mason: 4 goals
Allison Gionta: 2 goals, 1 assist
\Angelica Fuccillo: 1 goal
Marissa Gurello: 1 goal
Katie Meinecke: 1 goal
Samantha Giacolone: 7 saves

Hauppauge:
Taylor Ranftle: 3 goals, 3 assists
Lindsey Alfano: 1 goal
Christine Rienzo: 1 goal
Lauren Descalzo: 1 goal
Jessica Volpe: 1 goal
Keri McCarthy: 1 goal
Darla Poulin: 1 goal
Kasey Kephart: 6 saves

Tags: Eastport South Manor, Hauppauge