The Wantagh Warriors enter at No. 8 in our top 20 rankings. After coming close the last couple of seasons to appearing in the Class C Long Island Championship Game, Wantagh will aim to get over the hump in 2023. This year they will be coached by Lauren Ruppert who enters her first season as the coach of the Warriors coming over from Our Lady of Mercy. Coach Ruppert gave her thoughts about her team as they approach the beginning of the season. “‘Hold the rope’. I look forward to watching these girls make magic on the field, being a team, and playing together. Once they learn to trust every single person on their team, there is nothing they can’t do.”
When highlighting the Warriors, the first player that draws the attention is senior attacker Madison Alaimo the future Virginia Cavalier. Alaimo is someone that defenses can only hope to contain as she has her fingerprints all over the field. She is the impetus of the offense as someone that is a dynamic goal scorer that also makes her teammates around her better. Alaimo is a lethal high to low finisher that always knows how to get to her spots on the field. In a dominant junior season she tallied a whopping 62 goals and 43 assists for 105 points. Her partner in crime Eva Ingrilli the UNC commit makes this arguably the best attack duo on Long Island. Although she is currently sidelined with a knee injury, if Wantagh is able to get her back this season, this offense becomes that much more difficult to game plan for. In her absence two attackers that have the chance to come up big are Olivia Nicholson (Siena), and Sienna Diglio (UMass). Nicolson had impactful junior campaign with 17 goals and five assists for 22 points, and was one of their top performers in the winter league where she was third on the team in points with 17. Also in the mix as one of their key returning attackers is sophomore Riley Forthofer who added nine points as a freshman in 2022.
Wantagh’s midfield will certainly look different this year without 2022 graduate Madison Taylor who is an irreplaceable player. However they will still have a formidable midfield with Julia Nicholson (Jacksonville) who returns for her senior season after posting 30 goals in 2022. Along with Nicholson, sophomore Juliana Cerasi is a young gun who brings versatility as someone who impacts the game both offensively, defensively, and as a draw specialist.
Wantagh’s defense is comprised of upperclassmen including junior Katherine Killian (RIT), Brighid Smith (Wagner), Nicole Baudo (USF) and Paige Martin (Scranton). The goaltending is filled by seniors Nicole Schaumloffel (Western Connecticut), and Lauren Rochel (Bentley). Between the two goalies who split time in the net, they came together to total 143 saves last season.
Between the elite competition in the power conference and the non-league opponents on their schedule, Wantagh has plenty of competitive matchups this season. On March 25th they open up with a non-league game against Middle Country. Also a notable non-league matchup includes St. Anthony’s on April 1st. Some of the marquee power conference games include Cold Spring Harbor (4/19), Garden City (4/22), Long Beach (4/27), Massapequa (5/5), and Manhasset (5/8).
