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Girls Lacrosse: Rough start to season for Mercy and its new coach

Bishop McGann-Mercy lacrosse player Savannah Hauser 040616

With 16 of its players having made a recent class trip to Italy, the Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School girls lacrosse team had not practiced in two weeks. On top of that, the Monarchs are short on precious experience.

As if all of that didn’t augur well for the Monarchs, Elwood/John Glenn was in town to play them in their season opener. John Glenn is a good team, with talents like Victoria Tsangaris and draw expert Amelia Biancardi.

It was a rough introduction to the new season for the Monarchs and their new coach, Walter Flaherty. Tsangaris scored four goals and assisted on three others as John Glenn romped, 19-3, on a bitterly cold Wednesday afternoon at Harold T. Murray Memorial Field in Riverhead.

Biancardi also scored four goals to go with one assist and seven ground balls. She also won 15 of 22 draws as the Knights (3-2, 2-1 Suffolk County Division II) dominated possession. McGann-Mercy was outshot, 41-10, and managed only one clear in the face of John Glenn’s pressure.

Two of McGann-Mercy’s goals came from Savannah Connors, who was assisted on the first one by Savannah Hauser. Siobhan Merrill accounted for the Monarchs’ other goal.

Winning goalie Sylvanna Polito made five saves.

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Photo caption: Bishop McGann-Mercy’s Savannah Hauser searches for an opening in Elwood/John Glenn’s defense. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)