Club teams behind LI girls success

By KATRINA DOELL | Newsday Staff Writer

August 3, 2007

When Carol Rose founded Long Island Elite Yellow Jackets Lacrosse in 1999, it was the start of something special on Long Island.

Girls lacrosse players got the chance to play year-round club ball, developing their skills, facing tough competition in elite tournaments throughout the country and getting noticed by the top college programs.

"I think it has made a tremendous impact on girls lacrosse as we know it today," said Rose, who is also the head coach at Northport. "Kids get showcased like never before."
 

As the number of girls lacrosse players increased with the number of schools sponsoring teams, other club programs began. In 2003, Danielle Gallagher founded the Long Island Liberty, extending opportunities for lacrosse players.

"It's great seeing the level of play get better every year," said Gallagher, a former U.S. elite team player, former assistant at Notre Dame and the current head coach at Manhasset. "These kids love to play. I would have loved to have had year-round lacrosse."

Two years ago, Ward Melville coach Erin Blaney started the girls division of the Long Island Express. When she helped found the Three Village Youth Lacrosse program in 1988, Blaney remembers that there weren't any other opportunities around.

"Now there are approximately 38 youth leagues in Suffolk," Blaney said.

The three accomplished women agree that these clubs and players participation in the clubs is a key in getting noticed by college coaches.

"It gives these kids a great opportunity to be seen in the summer and they can get recruited at fall tournaments," Gallagher said.

Rose uses the example of Yellow Jacket Cally Chakiran, who plays for East Meadow, and Nicole Tufariello of Lynbrook. Both play for high school teams that do not get much attention. Chakrian, also a member of the gold medal-winning Empire team, has verbally committed to James Madison and Tufariello to Boston College. Rose asserts that club ball helped get them noticed.\

"The college coaches are coming to the finals in the playoffs," Rose said. "Some of the good players just wouldn't get noticed."

Many of the club players are starting young. The Yellow Jackets youngest travel teams are the Class of 2014, current fifth graders. The Hornets, a clinic open to the first 100 applicants, serves as a feeder program for the Yellow Jackets.

The Liberty has its youngest travel players at 2013 and a group called the Little Liberties for third-fifth graders, helps teach younger players what they will need to advance to the next level.

The Express has a 2014-15 combined team that only plays in three tournaments a year.

"We don't want them to burn out," Blaney said.

Even with some of the older players that is a concern for Blaney.

"Sometimes at the end of the summer they have had enough and they don't even want to look at a lacrosse stick," Blaney said. Which is why she believes players should be multi-sport athletes if they choose and be committed to their school teams first. l Another example of how year-round club ball has helped the Island is the Empire State team which won its second straight gold medal. Northport defender Lacey Vigmostad told Newsday that playing with four of her Yellow Jackets teammates on defense in the Empire Games was a key to stifling opponents.

Looking back on how far things have come for girls lacrosse players on Long Island, Rose remembers years ago when she would take a team to tournaments to play legendary lacrosse clubs such as the Sky Walkers and M&D and how she knew Long Island girls could compete if a proper team was put together. Thus, the birth of the scene.

"The intent was to show everybody that Long Island could compete," Rose said. "We used to go down there [to tournaments] and get our butts kicked. I think I have reached my goal."

And surely, with the Express and the Liberty around, and girls lacrosse players continually striving to be the best around, the competition on Long Island will always be great.

BY THE NUMBERS

220 -- Number of players honing skills with the Long Island Liberty.

437 and 19 -- Number of players and teams making up the Long Island Elite Yellow Jackets.

12 -- Number of teams in the Long Island Express club.

WORTH NOTING:

Two Yellow Jackets teams, 2008 Blue and 2011 Blue, won two of the three divisions competing at the 7th Annual National Draw the first weekend in July. At the first Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Champions Cup the weekend of June 15th, the Yellow Jackets 2008 Blue team was the Champions pool winners. In the Premier pool, the Long Island Express 2008 Blue took the title.