GIRLS LACROSSE: A new varsity team takes its first steps

BY BOB LIEPA  |  SPORTS EDITOR

There's a new game in town. Well, girls lacrosse is not exactly new, but it's new at the high school varsity level to the North Fork's three high schools, which are sharing the same team.

The Mattituck / Greenport / Southold team is so new that it doesn't even have a nickname yet. What it does have, though, is a former college standout as a coach and plenty of enthusiasm.

Kaitlin Leggio, the team's rookie coach, had a stellar career at Stony Brook University, where she finished as the school's all-time leading scorer and was an America East Conference player of the year. Leggio said she was encouraged to see 35 players come out for the team for its first preseason practice on Monday.

"I'm very excited about it," Leggio said. "There's a lot of kids who want to play, and they want to try something new. For me, as a first-time coach, I'm excited because I get to . . . mold this team how I want to."

While the varsity team took its first steps on its home field at Cutchogue West Elementary School, girls lacrosse has been a presence in the area at the junior high school and/or junior varsity level over the past five years. Thirteen players competed recently in an indoor winter league. Leggio said only about 10 of the 35 players have no prior lacrosse experience.

"It's inspiring to see how we started and where we've come," senior midfielder Caty Austin, one of the more experienced players on the team, said before Tuesday's practice. "We're surrounded by great girls. I've grown up with some of these girls, playing with them forever."

The seniors, who are finally getting a chance to compete at the varsity level, may have wondered if this day would ever come.

"I was hoping," said senior midfielder Erin Mulrain, who had to sit out the volleyball and basketball seasons after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in her knee. "I was definitely pitching for it."

Just how Mattituck / Greenport / Southold does is a point of curiosity. First-year varsity teams historically have taken their lumps at the hands of more experienced teams.

"We're definitely getting thrown into the shark tank with all the teams that we're playing against," Mulrain said. "We might not go undefeated, but that's going to be alright."

Austin said, "I think we're viewed as the underdogs, clearly."

Leggio didn't sound as if she was going to sell her team short, though. "I'm expecting a few Ws; I am," she said. "I know some people might say that's farfetched."

It's going to be a tough road, Leggio said, but she noted that there are other new teams finding their way. Leggio said her team has time to build and work on the fundamentals of the game, especially stick skills.

Of the players who have come out for the team, which will wear navy blue, gold and white uniforms, six are from Greenport ; the rest are fairly evenly divided between Mattituck and Southold .

Mattituck / Greenport / Southold will play its first varsity game on the road on March 26 against the Kings Park Kingsmen. Its first home game will be April 7 versus the Copiague Eagles.

What thoughts will be going through Leggio's mind when her team steps on the field for its first game?

"That's a couple of weeks away, so I'm taking it one step at a time now," she said. "It's only the second day [of practice]. You know, you got to [take] baby steps."

As with other teams, the first couple of days of practice included the typical formalities, such as outlining how travel arrangements to practices are to be handled and the submission of medical forms. But there was also an underlying excitement among the players that they are a part of something new.

"It's kind of cool," said senior defenseman Katie Barry, who has been playing lacrosse since she was in fourth grade. "It's going to be fun."

bliepa@timesreview.com