Landing at number 16 in the top 24 preseason rankings are the Long Beach Marines of Nassau Class B. This is a team that has been on the brink the last two seasons of winning the county championship with narrow defeats back-to-back years against Garden City. This year Long Beach is hoping that the third time will be the charm and that they can get back to the county finals and bring home a county championship. They are led by Head Coach Rachel Ray, and this winter Long Beach was part of the LILJ HSWL as they get set for what they hope will be a very long season.
The past few seasons Long Beach has been led by a generational talent in Delaney Radin who was part of the 2023 graduating class now suiting up for the Florida Gators. Although it’s never easy replacing a player of her caliber, the Marines welcome back two elite midfielders in their respective classes with senior James Madison commit Ava Main, and junior Denver commit Delaney Chernoff. This dynamic athletic duo proves to be one of the best midfield combinations in Nassau County, as last year they combined for 108 points with 60 from Main and 48 from Chernoff. In the winter league they totaled 24 points through five games.
The Marines also return attack/middies Ella Timperio (Lynn), Sky Kilfeather, and Alex Backlin, and pure attackers Keira Fontaine (Akron), Sienna Warren, and Marianna Chimienti. Last season Long Beach was tied for seventh best in the county in goals per game at 12.4.
As for the defensive side of the field, they have a number of defenders that can make this a very stout defensive team. Their young gun freshman defender Anala Teemer is a supremely athletic, tenacious, lockdown on-ball defender, along with junior defender Taryn Morris who was a starter last season as a sophomore, and current sophomore Ella Thornton entering her first full season on varsity. In the net they will be protected by senior Binghamton commit Emily Backlin who produced 123 saves in 2023.
This season Long Beach will surely once again be in contention to win the county championship, and are hoping that this can be the year that they can have a storybook ending to the season.
