NYS Sportswriters Name Eight Blue Devils to All-State Team

The New York State Sportswriters Association has named eight Blue Devil girls’ lacrosse players All-State, including Ava McDonald (D), Jolie Weinschreider (M) and Juliet Johnson to the First Team All-State squad.

Valentina Puccio (A), Olivia Puccio (M), Grace Gordon (M), Madyn Kalb (M/D), and Bridget Callery (M) were also named All-State.

It was a season that none of the players, coaches or fans will ever forget as the Huntington High School girls’ varsity lacrosse team compiled 20-2 record and won the Suffolk, Long Island and New York State championships all in dramatic fashion.

Despite graduating 10 spectacular players in June, Huntington will be returning nine post-season honorees to the field next spring, including All-County stars Juliet Johnson, Olivia Puccio, Madyn Kalb and Ava McDonald.

New enrollment figures have also placed Huntington in Class B next spring, giving it a new set of opponents and playoff challengers.

Huntington came from behind to upset defending state champion Penfield of Rochester at Cortland’s Grady Field last June to win the Blue Devils’ first ever state title in the sport of girls’ lacrosse.

“Our attitude was built on trust,” said McDonald, who played the best game of her career. “We knew they were a gritty team and weren’t going to make anything easy, but all season long we’ve relied on each other and that wasn’t changing. We knew if we outworked them, stayed connected, and kept playing our game, we’d come out on top. Our coaches have done a great job all season preparing us for moments like that, and we knew if we trusted the game plan, played our game, and shut them down defensively, we were going to win. In the second half, we made some adjustments and understood that game was going to come down to who wanted it more. We’ve had it hard all season long, and because of that we knew nobody was going to outwork us. We worked too hard to get to this moment and there was no way anyone else was taking that plaque home besides us.”