Huxtable picked a great day to have her most prolific game of the year, netting four goals and an assist to help swat away the pesky Cougars 12-9 on the jungle-hot turf of Northport Stadium. The win pushes the Lady Tigers into the Suffolk County Finals against the despised Lady Patriots of Ward Melville on Wednesday at neutral Newfield High School. WM also scored twelve in beating William Floyd 12-7 in their semi-final.

“This feels amazing and hopefully I can do it again in the Finals,” said the 10^th grader Huxtable.  “Ella told me before the game that I was ‘gonna have a day’ and that boosted my confidence and made me feel good because I was happy to know that my teammates believe in me.”

As Huxtable scored one third of the team’s goals on this day, none was bigger than the final Tiger tally of the afternoon. When Commack sliced a seven-goal Northport lead to just three with over 8 minutes left, the field seemed like it was tilting heavily to the Elwood Avenue goal. Commack, led by Freshman Attacker Amelia Brite, were winning face-offs and peppering Tiger Netminder Megan Morris with shots from every conceivable angle. The Lady Coogs had without warning, wrested the momentum. When Commack Attacker Lilli Petit made it 11-8, the Lady Tiger defense was gasping for both water and air. Coach Rose was forced to call a timeout.

Whatever she said during that break in the action must have worked.

When play resumed, Huxtable and fellow attacker Shannon Smith played catch behind the Commack net, as they so often do. After a series of these passes that melted not only precious seconds off the clock, but also the will of the Commack defense, Huxtable swooped in front and fired the ball past Commack goalie Olivia Bradley from point-blank range with five and a half remaining. At 12-8, it was the dagger.

“I believe in Hux so much and I know she is a great player,” said Cabrera, who had a goal and 2 assists. “I’m so glad my prediction was right and that she was a crucial part of our win. She is such a hard worker and is always so motivated and I feel that this is only just the beginning for her.”

Speaking of beginning, this game started like a movie we’ve all seen a thousand times on T.N.T.  Grace McCarthy won the opening draw, the ball landed in sniper Kaylie Mackiewicz’s stick and just like that, the Lady Tigers had a 1-0 lead a minute and three seconds into the game. Shortly thereafter, Senior midfielder Emma Brazier was injured, had to leave the game and was replaced by Kennedy Radziul.

The Lady Tigers scored four goals in the last eight minutes of the half and as they re-hydrated during the break, enjoyed a 7-3 lead.

The lead ballooned to 11-4 when Cabrera scored with 19 minutes left in the game, but Commack refused to wilt. In a four-minute span, they jolted the Tigers with a four-goal burst, two of which were scored by Brite. It was suddenly 11-8, with over eight minutes remaining.

“We were extremely excited and still had a lot of energy despite the heat,” said Brite. “As a team, we were determined to leave it all out there on the field and that’s exactly what we did with that second half surge. I’m very proud of our team and even though we lost, in a way, it felt like we didn’t.”

Morris felt the ripples of hot pressure during that span and had to make stops on a number of Grade A scoring chances.

“They got pretty close to coming back,” said Morris, who stopped Brite on a penalty shot midway through the second half. I tried to read her (Brite’s) stick, shoulders and body language and could tell she was going to rip a shot. I managed to get a piece of it.”

Morris made 9 saves on the day. Mackiewicz total 3 goals and an assist. Smith had two goals and two assists. Attackers Isabella Germani and Emma McLam notched goals and Germani added two helpers to her score sheet.

Now it is on to one of the fiercest wars on the current Suffolk County sports scene – Northport v Ward Melville – to crown a county champion. It’s intense and hate-filled anytime these teams get together in any sport, but in Lacrosse, doubly so.

“There’s a huge rivalry between Northport and Ward Meville and it’s going to be a tough and competitive game,” said Mackiewicz. We’re excited to compete in the County Finals and we will battle until the end.”

As for any more predictions, Huxtable chose not to prognosticate but would love to have an encore performance.

“I hope to play as well as I did against Commack,” she said. “Or even better!”

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