Blue Devil Girls’ Lax Suffers Playoff Loss

The Huntington girls’ lacrosse team closed out a successful season with a 10-7 playoff loss at third seeded William Floyd late last week. It marked the last game in a Blue Devil uniform for seniors and captains Grace Agrillo, Laurel Bonn and Gianna Forte.

Huntington fell behind in the first half, 7-3. The Blue Devils made up ground in the second half, outscoring the hosts, 4-3, but it wasn’t enough.

Huntington missed an assortment of shots and it attempted to claw closer. The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 10-7 while William Floyd improved to 13-4.

Forte (34 goals; 19 assists) and sophomore Devon St. John (22g; 5a) both scored two goals in the game. Agrillo (16g; 7a), freshman Grace Gordon (13g; 3a) and junior Kayleigh Bender (41g; 26a) all had one goal each. Eighth grade goalie Andie DiGioia (86 saves) stopped four shots in the cage.

The loss was especially tough on the seniors, who all displayed the emotion one might expect as they walked off the field.

“Despite the ending to the season, I feel like we had a successful year,” Forte said. “I give all of the credit to the coaches and to the other girls for coming every day and truly giving it everything they had. We had a lot of success this year and had some signature wins over bigtime teams. I am really proud of everyone and wish them all the best next year.”

The Blue Devils fielded one of the youngest lineups in Suffolk and yet came together to win 10 games, including several upset victories and a couple of near upsets.

“I think that we had such a great season despite falling short in playoffs,” St. John said. “So many different aspects of our game have improved tremendously from last year so I believe we will only continue to get better and better with the help of our amazing coaches. Also, since we’re such a young team and we’ve already come this far, we will definitely grow together and go even further next year.”

First year head coach and Huntington alum Katie Reilly was pleased with how hard the team played in the game. “They really did give it everything they have,” the Princeton grad said.

Count Bender among the underclassmen who are excited about the future. “I’m feeling proud of the progress we all made this season,” she said. “I feel like every one of my teammates improved their lacrosse skills and mental game. We began to connect more and more throughout the season since our team was so young. I’m just so proud of our accomplishments and the growth we made. I cannot wait to keep working in the offseason and put in work for next season.