Sports

Girls Lacrosse: Yellow cards pile up in Riverhead’s loss

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Riverhead junior Carolyn Carrera scored five goals with a pair of assists in the Blue Waves’ loss Tuesday to Patchogue-Medford.

RAIDERS 17, BLUE WAVES 8

After each successive yellow card handed down to the Riverhead Blue Waves Tuesday, the prospect of a win became increasingly bleak.

In total the Blue Waves got assessed five cards, helping fuel Patchogue-Medford’s 17-8 Division I win in Riverhead. The Blue Waves lost their sixth straight in a game that was very much up for grabs midway through the second half until everything quickly unraveled.

“I’m not saying that all of our playing was legal, but I definitely disagree with some of the calls,” said Riverhead coach Ashley King.

The Raiders ended the game on a 9-0 run over the final 15 minutes after the Blue Waves (2-10, 2-9 D-I) had tied the game at 8. The run coincided with the Blue Waves going a man down after their fourth yellow card with 15:31 left.

Moments earlier, Carolyn Carrera took one step in on a free position and unleashed a big right-handed shot past Pat-Med’s goalkeeper to score her fifth goal of the game. The goal capped a 5-0 run that began in the first half and brought the Blue Waves all the way back from a big early hole. Carrera scored three of the five goals during the run and assisted on another.

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Riverhead’s Joanna Messina tries to defend Patchogue-Medford freshman Madison Ostrick.

Twenty-one seconds later, the Blue Waves lost Samantha Brodeur to a yellow, her second of the afternoon, which forced her to the bench.

“It hurt a lot, considering we played about 20 minutes man down, due to the excessive yellow cards handed out,” King said.

In the first half the Blue Waves lost Sabina Dorr, one of the team’s leading scorers, to a pair of yellows. Adding insult to injury, the Blue Waves got tacked for another two-minute penalty when Dorr went back into the game after serving two minutes in the penalty area following her second yellow. But a player cannot reenter the game after two yellow cards.

The Raiders’ coaches alertly notified the refs the moment Dorr entered the game and the Blue Waves were hit with the additional two-minute penalty.

The Raiders (5-7, 5-6 D-I) struck for two goals over the next 3 1/2 minutes and appeared to have the game well in hand. But the Blue Waves came back with three straight goals to end the half, capped by a transition goal from Carrera on a low shot as she attacked the cage.

“Confidence,” King said of the Blue Waves’ run. “We were going to goal a lot more. Our speed, we were being more aggressive. Usually we’re a little hesitant to shoot. But today we were really firing some shots.”

The Raiders got five goals and two assists from freshman Madison Ostrick. Senior Erika Flowers and junior Kristin Carroll each added three goals.

The Blue Waves got three goals from Brodeur. She was the only Blue Waves with a goal in addition to Carrera.

King described Carrera as a “workhorse.”

“She’s working up and down the field, but we’re getting a lot of girls touching the ball and it really comes together as at team,” King said. “It’s a matter of putting 50 minutes together.”

The Blue Waves are down to just three games left on the season beginning Friday back at home against Smithtown East.

King said a big key down the stretch is trying to minimize mistakes late in the game. The Blue Waves don’t have a ton of depth, so most of the girls are playing the full 50 minutes.

“We’re getting there,” King said. “Our bench is getting deeper. A lot of the girls don’t get a lot of subs, so they’re working hard.”

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