The Commack Lady Cougars sit at 19th in the LILJ Preseason Rankings. In 2022 they had the best season in the history of the program, going 11-5 in the regular season and appearing in the Suffolk Class A Semifinals. Their ascension towards the top of the standings last year shows that this year they are a team that can be contenders to appear in the LIC. They are coached by Melissa Read who has been involved with the program for 20 years. “We are VERY excited for the challenges ahead, looking to continue where we left off and make history for our program,” Read said to the LILJ.
This spring the team returns a large core of talent that will be poised to make this a historic season after their playoff defeat to Northport. Beginning on the offensive side of the ball, the attack unit will be spearheaded by Adelphi bound senior Ashley Kolomechuk who was the team leader in both goals and assists, going for 38 and 30. Kolomechuk is one of the leaders on the team as an upperclassman and was a team captain last year. Commack’s offense also features some of the most dynamic midfielders on the island between Emma Hendry, Lili Pettit, Amelia Brite, and Emily Parisi. Hendry is the upperclassman of this quartet, committed to Army West Point. Last season she managed to score 25 goals and took a large share of the draws.
The trio of Pettit, Brite, and Parisi are all part of Long Island’s deep 2025 class. Brite and Pettit each had dominant freshman seasons with 38 goals and eight assists from Brite and 26 goals along with 17 assists from Pettit. Parisi added six goals and was third on the team in assists with 12. This year they each come back a little more seasoned and are striving for an even bigger 2023 season. As a team they averaged 10.1 goals per game last year.
On defense two of their key defenders that are back for the 2023 season are senior Bella Lanza who was another one of their captains, and junior Kate Hearns who is committed to Bucknell. They’ll be playing in front of senior goaltender Olivia Bradley who will be heading to Mercy at the conclusion of the season. Her 116 saves last spring were good for top 10 in Suffolk County and she had a save percentage of 48%. Last season Bradley and the Cougars defense only gave up 7.4 goals per game. This year the key will be how their defense contains some of the more high volume scoring teams like Northport and Ward Melville.
One of the big advantages going into this season is that they only graduated two starters from last year in attacker Kaitlyn Malyniak and defender Kendall Clark. The continuity and chemistry should remain in tact with the remaining starters that return.
In a Suffolk Class A which has seen Northport historically be the team to beat, Commack’s regular game season at Northport on May 5th could have major implications in the standings as the playoffs approach. Other notable league matchups on the schedule include at home against William Floyd April 3rd, home against Smithtown East April 28th, and home against Ward Melville May 10th who are arguably this year’s favorites in the conference. The non-league opponents on the schedule for Commack are Hauppauge (3/24) and Smithtown West (4/1), both of Class B.
