By Joseph Staszewski
Sam Innes struggled to find the words to describe his Beach Channel team’s loss to rival Tottenville. The Dolphins were outplayed for the majority of the game, saw the ball constantly in their end and watched the Pirates pass their way to some easy goals.
“We didn’t play as a team today,” the coach said. “They played as a team today. We are still trying to figure things out.”
Beach Channel fell 9-6 to visiting Tottenville in PSAL South girls’ lacrosse last Thursday. Star Cynithia Smalls was held to four goals by a collapsing Pirates defense and Tolagbe Olatunbosun and Idalia Viard each added a score. Megan Kane scored four goals and Dana Coscia had three goals and two assists for the Pirates in a rematch of last year’s PSAL city championship game, won by Beach Channel (2-1).
“We have a lot of first-year players,” Smalls said. “This game just lets the rookies know how hard it is and how much harder they are going to have to play to get back to that championship level.”
Beach Channel led 2-1, its only advantage of the game, when Smalls scored in a swarm of defenders 5:13 into the game. The Pirates shut her off and clogged the middle all game. Tottenville (3-0) then took control, scoring four straight times and then twice more early in the second half to extend its advantage to 7-3 on a Coscia goal 5:23 in.
“Most of their goals, there was nothing we could do about it,” Smalls said. “They got quick shots.”
Beach Channel, on the other hand, had limited and quick possessions and Innes felt his team’s ball movement needs to improve. The Dolphins did rally when Viard scored and Smalls, who said she needed to push herself, found the back of the net to close within 7-6 with 6:25 left in the game.
“We had a lot of hope,” Smalls said.
That was quickly dashed when Kane and Coscia both responded with goals to put the game out of reach. The loss showed the Dolphins how far their new players around a veteran core still need to come.
“You could see there were a lot of mistakes of inexperience out there,” Innes said. “We broke down.”
