Harrison Withstands Late Surge From Somers

The rivalry between Somers and Harrison resumed Wednesday afternoon, during a girls varsity lacrosse game at Harrison High School's new McGillicuddy Stadium.

Somers jumped to an early 2 - 0 lead as both Maggie Hashmall and Katie Marasco scored. Meanwhile, the Huskies seemed somewhat fatigued and out of sync for the first five minutes of the game.

But Harrison bounced back. The first goal for the Huskies was fired in by senior Madeline Susa and that was quickly fallowed by Melissa Shulman's first goal to tie the game at two.

"Our girls have the skills and the ability to beat just about anyone," said Harrison Assistant Coach Jon-Erik Zappala, "It just took us some time to get our chemistry right with our team today."

Somers held the lead the majority of first half, but frequent stoppages in play kept the Tuskers from building the momentum to put the game out of reach. Harrison was never down by more then two in the first half.

"It was hard for us to get any momentum in the first half," said Somers head coach Jennifer Lipowski. "We are down a few players and it was difficult for us to find the right mix of players for our chemistry."

The Huskies were able to maintain a narrow advantage right before halftime as Alex Misisco ended a 5-5 tie when she scored her only goal of the day and gave Harrison a one goal lead. They would keep that lead the rest of the afternoon.

Somers came out in the second half and picked up a quick penalty. To make matters worse, the Tuskers also lost Kaitlyn Nealon to an apparent ankle injury. Nealon played well and scored a goal in the first half.

With Nealon on the bench and Somers playing a man down after the penalty, Harrison scored four straight goals giving the team a commanding 10-5 lead.

It seemed Harrison would be able to cruise from there, but after a well placed timeout Somers was able to rattle of a few goals to get back into the game.

With less then three minutes left Harrison had an 11 - 9 lead, but Somers was on the attack. The Tuskers controlled the ball for the majority of the final few minutes but, thanks to Harrison's goalkeeper Samantha Stump and the Harrison defense, the Tuskers couldn't break through and tie the game.

"Sam was definitely on point today, she's a great goalie and she's been with the program for four years now," said Zappala. "She knows what to do and her reaction time was great today."

Somers was able to score a goal with 18 seconds left to bring themselves within one. The Tuskers then won the faceoff and gave themselves a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. The Harrison defense swarmed the Somers player and the Huskies were able to poke away the ball and clinch a victory.

Harrison was led by captain Melissa Shulman's four goals and Emily Koller's three. Somers leading scorers were captain Katie Marasco who scored a pair of goals and Sarah Mink who ended up with a hat trick.

"Melissa is one of the best players we have ever had here; she is just a natural goal scorer," said Zappala. "Emily is one of those girls that is quiet in the hallways but you put her on the field and the animal comes out, she goes to the cage and she knows what she has to do."

For Somers, however, the game was a missed opportunity against a big rival.

"We live for the intensity, our girls live for games like this," Lipowski said. "I wish we had another shot against Harrison. This has always been a great rivalry and if we played our best, then things could have been different."

Harrison improved their record to 2 - 2, the team's next game is Tuesday at Pelham High School.