We’re down to the final five in the LILJ top 25 preseason rankings and coming in at number five are the Mt. Sinai Lady Mustangs. This season they are poised for a deep postseason run and are hoping to bring home the program’s sixth Long Island championship and fifth state championship. Last year went 11-6 but were defeated by Bayport in the Suffolk Class C County Finals. They have made the playoffs every year since 2013, but this year they are under new leadership with the retirement of one of the all-time great head coaches, Al Bertolone. Chris Carannante is now at the helm and will look to maintain the program’s excellence it has built over the years. He shared his thoughts about the upcoming season and the keys to making it successful.
“It’s a new era at Mount Sinai with legendary coach Al Bertolone retiring. Keys to success is keeping the continuity in the program. Shayna Pirreca is taking over the offense with nine returning starters from last years county final team.”
The attack unit will be spearheaded by the trio of Lea Flobeck (Florida), Taylor Cline (Brown), and Alexa Spallina. Flobeck is coming off of leading the team in points last spring and in the LILJ High School Winter League. She has impeccable vision on the field and has the ability to beat you in multiple ways, both as a scorer and a facilitator. Cline can be seen as a Swiss Army knife that can do just about everything. In the winter league she scored 16 goals to go along with five assists and had 17 draw controls with 15 ground balls. Spallina is only a freshman and is absolutely lethal when the ball is in her stick. Besides her gifted ability to score, she plays the game at her own pace and has a great lacrosse IQ.
Two of their returning midfielders are Kylie Budke (Stony Brook) and Kayli Carannante. Budke plays both ends of the field at an exceptionally high level. She led the team last season with 20 goals and also caused five turnovers which was a team-high. Expect her to also spend time in the circle taking some of the draws. The super sophomore Caranannte has remarkable speed and is incredibly dangerous in transition. She poses just as much of a threat with the ball as she does without it thanks to her explosive cutting and great off-ball movement.
Mt. Sinai will also be getting back four players on the defensive end that are sure to have a major impact. Alexa Carannante (Pitt), Jordan DeBlasio (Syracuse), Delilah Mile (Albany), and Abby Sabella (Stony Brook) will each play a part of what was an elite defensive unit in 2021. The team only gave up more than 10 goals once last season and allowed the 11th fewest total goals among Suffolk County teams. A huge part of that was because of their goalie Emily Lamparter (Maryland) who was a 2021 graduate and will certainly be missed this year.
Senior Jillian McFadden (Adelphi) and junior Sara Flobeck split the goalie duties during the winter league and will likely share time in the cage during the spring.
Some of their other key players that graduated in 2021 include Molly Laforge midfield (Stony Brook), Christianna Mastrorocco (Binghamton) and Amanda Dowler (LIU). The three midfielders combined for 41 points last season.
Freshman defender Madison Cuccinello and eighth grade attacker Sophia Masone are two young guns that could possibly see time on the field this season.
Mt. Sinai has some significant games on their schedule against some of the other top teams in Suffolk County. A few notable matchups include home against Comsewogue (3/25), home against West Babylon (4/1), at Bayport (4/22), and home against Sayville (4/28).
Throughout the history of Mt. Sinai’s girls lacrosse program there have been a slew of players that went on to play at the collegiate level and are now notable alumni. The following players all played for Mt. Sinai and are now current or former college athletes.
Caroline Fitzgerald (Florida)
Jessica Demeo (Bryant)
Shayna Pirreca (Florida)
Kasey Mitchell (Stony Brook)
Sydney Pirreca (Florida)
Hannah Van Middlelem (Syracuse)
Mary Ellen Carron (Leigh)
Rachel Dillon (Denver)
Hailey Dillon (Stony Brook)
Raynor Sebella (Stony Brook)
Meaghan Tyrrell (Syracuse)
Emma Tyrrell (Syracuse)
Jenny Markey (Syracuse)
Meaghan Scutaro & Kirsten Scutaro (Notre Dame)
Morgan & Mckenzie Mitchell (Stony Brook)
Erin Fitzgerald (North Western)
Colleen McCaffrey (Johns Hopkins)
Shannon Burns (Bryant)
Julie Bernansky (Geneseo)
Maina Venezia (Lehigh)
Danielle Dellarocca (Jacksonville)
Marissa Colacino (Stony Brook)
Jenna Van Middlelem (Catholic)
Nikki O’Reilly (Furman)
Julia Michaels (Villanova)
Alex Flobeck (UMass)
Carly Spano (LIU)
Morgan McGrath (High Point)
Samantha Croston (Colgate)
Caroline Hoeg (Johns Hopkins)
Sarah Raynock (New Paltz)
Ashley Seiter (New Paltz)
Emily Seiter (Jacksonville)
Sienna Massullo (Pace)
Gabby Sartori (Brown)
Kelly Johnston (LIU)
Catherine Robles (LIU)
Veronica Venezia (LVC)
Anna Kaminsky (Dominican)
Allie Clahane (Robert Weslyn)
