Sports

Girls Lacrosse: Tuckers have more Hoegs but less goals than Mount Sinai

SUFFOLK COUNTY CLASS C TOURNAMENT | MUSTANGS 9, TUCKERS 5

In the Battle of the Hoegs, Mattituck/Greenport/Southold had the clear advantage, five to one. But the numbers that really counted, goals scored, fell in Mount Sinai’s favor.

The greatest season in the six-year varsity history of the Mattituck/Greenport/Southold girls lacrosse team came to an end on Wednesday. Kasey Mitchell scored five goals from six shots to lead No. 1 seed Mount Sinai to a 9-5 victory on its field turf in a Suffolk County Class C Tournament semifinal. The Mustangs (16-1) will return to the county final for the sixth time in seven years. They will face No. 2 Bayport-Blue Point (13-3) in the final on Tuesday at the Dowling Sports Complex.

When the game ended, the happy Mustangs rushed the field. The Tuckers, as instructed by their coach, Matt Maloney, jogged to the opposite side of the field and back to acknowledge their fans, who cheered them. On the trot back toward their bench, the team’s two seniors, midfielder Trish Brisotti and attackman Colby Prokop, had tears in their eyes and were comforted by their teammates.

It surely hasn’t been a season for the Tuckers (11-6) to cry about, though. They set a team record for the most wins in a season, qualified for the playoffs for the second straight year, earned the right to host a playoff game for the first time and picked up their first playoff win ever, over Sayville.

Then, to top things off, they gave a strong Mount Sinai team, which has lost only twice in three years, a competitive game. (The Mustangs’ only loss this season came in overtime to St. Anthony’s).

In the first half, the Tuckers tied the score three times and even took the lead once at 3-2 on a nice exchange from Audrey Hoeg to Mackenzie Hoeg, who fired in a quick shot. After Mount Sinai moved out to a 5-3 lead on consecutive goals by Sydney Pirreca (her second), Mitchell and Mary Ellen Carron, Audrey Hoeg tallied to cut the Mustangs’ lead to 5-4 by halftime.

Katie Hoeg drew the Tuckers even again at 5-5 with her second goal 8 minutes 56 seconds into the second half. That was the Tuckers’ last goal of the day, though, as Mount Sinai’s defense proved to be tough to crack. The Mustangs closed out the game on goals by Mitchell, Meaghan Tyrell and Mitchell (her last two) before running out the last several minutes with their clean passing.

In addition to her scoring, Mitchell collected a game-high six ground balls.

Hoegs were prominent on the field, and the Tuckers had five of them: sisters Katie Hoeg, Riley Hoeg and Mackenzie Hoeg, and their cousins, Audrey Hoeg and Claudia Hoeg. The Tuckers’ Hoegs were facing a familiar face in their cousin, Caroline Hoeg, who plays for Mount Sinai.

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